Bread price hike stalled

MUMBAI, January 18: The spectre of a 50 per cent hike in bread prices in Mumbai has been warded off, following the Centre8217;s decision to allocate an additional 20,000 tonnes of wheat to the state government. This quota will now be given to the city8217;s bakers.

Kanhaiyalal Gidwani, ex-director of the Food Corporation of India FCI and leader of the ruling Shiv Sena party which had backed the bakers8217; demand, recently met Union Food and Civil Supplies Minister Balwantsingh Ramoowalia and demanded that more wheat be allocated to the state, so that it could take steps to check maida and bread prices.

Ramoowalia has reportedly given an assurance that the additional quota will be provided to the state government within four days. M Yakub, vice-president of the Bombay Bakers Association said that once bakers are given wheat directly, there would be no need for them to increase bread prices, as they would get the wheat processed from flour mills at reasonable rates. Otherwise, if the government supplies the wheat directly to mill-owners, they sell it at exorbitant prices and force a rise in bread prices, he said.