Govt begins to create buffer stock of groundnut oil

The State Civil Supplies Department will put to sale, through the public distribution system, a one-kg polypack of groundnut oil purchased by the NDDB for the department to maintain the price-level, in case the prices of the cooking medium start shooting up in the State.

Under the agreement signed last week, the NDDB will provide a loan of Rs 100 crore at the rate of 14 per cent interest to the Government and purchase 20,000 MTs of groundnut oil from the open market on behalf of the Government, while the remaining 5,000 MTs of edible oil will be purchased by the Civil Supplies Corporation, which will allocate Rs 25 crore for the purpose.

In an informal chat with reporters on Tuesday, State CivilSupplies Minister Jaspal Singh said about 500 MTs of groundnut oil, including 350 MTs and 150 MTs by the NDDB and the Corporation, had already been purchased for the buffer stock. “We have yet to decide whether to purchase groundnut oil at one go or in a phased manner,” he pointed out, saying that the measure would certainly help check the rising prices of the edible oil.

Responding to a query, Singh admitted that despite the assurance given by the oil millers to reduce the prices of groundnut oil following the Government’s decision to lift the inter-State movement restrictions, the edible oil prices have not come down. At present, the groundnut oil price was Rs 47 a kg, as against Rs 37 a kg reported during the corresponding period last year.

Singh also said he is prepared to show the files of his department to the general public, in keeping with his Government’s commitment to provide “transparent administration” to the common man. In a chat with newspersons here today, Singh said all hisministerial colleagues, too, should come forward and be prepared to show the files relating to their respective department to the general public, so that “people’s doubts or misconceptions, if any, about the Ministers’ style of functioning can be removed”.

Asked, the Minister said he would not hesitate to make a representation to Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, if the groundnut oil prices fail to come down. He, however, personally felt that the time was not ripe to review the restrictions lifted on the inter-State movement of the commodity.

Asked if the Cabinet sub-committee, constituted to review and monitor the prices of essential commodities, including groundnut oil, still existed, Singh quipped, “You better ask this question to Industries Minister Suresh Mehta who heads the committee.” Mehta, after lifting the restrictions, had recently declared that since the sub-committee had done its job, it had stopped functioning.

Endorsing the BJP’s consumer body Grahak Suraksha Pagla Samiti’s charge thatSuresh Mehta’s assurance that the groundnut oil prices would start coming down after December 16 last had proved hollow, Singh said, “I don’t trust oil millers, for even in the recent past, they had not kept their promise to reduce the oil prices.” He said at present, the groundnut growers were getting adequate remunerative prices.