To give respite to common man from bounding inflation, the government will supply edible oil through ration shops. The government said today it would supply edible oils through ration shop at Rs 15 per kg below the imported price from July. The supply of vegetable oils, mainly refined soya and palm oils from ration shops, would begin from next month, an ministry release said.As many as 15 states have agreed to participate in the scheme which would cost the Centre Rs 1,500 crore. Ration card holders in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and West Bengal would be able to get edible oils at subsidised rates.Of the 11 million tonne demand, India’s import dependence for edible oil is 39 per cent. Government- owned MMTC, STC, PEC and Nafed have already contracted import of 1.79 lakh tonne of edible oils, of which, one lakh tonne have been shipped to Indian ports.The unprecedented rise in international prices of edible oils in the last two years had affected domestic prices, the release said. The scheme for distribution of edible oils through ration shops would provide relief to the poorer sections, besides ensuring steady availability of oils to these people, it said.The government also claimed that the increase in the domestic prices of edible oils had been kept low as compared with international prices through a number of steps.The measures taken include doing away with import duty on crude and slashing it to 7.5 per cent refined palm oils from April 1, 2008.
