Government crackdown on onion, potato hoarders

The Centre put onion and potato under the purview of the Essential Commodities Act on Wednesday and imposed stock holding limits as part of the crackdown on hoarding. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Onion and potato were under the Essential Commodities Act during between 1999 and 2004.

The CCEA also took a decision to release an additional 50 lakh tonnes of rice through the public distribution system (PDS) to provide relief for the poor. Stock holding limits, which will be set by state governments, will prohibit individuals from storing onion and potato beyond the prescribed ceiling.

The limits will be in operation for the next one year.

"The CCEA has decided to bring onion and potato under the purview of the stock holding limits under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.

With this, we are giving right to state governments to take stern action against hoarding and black marketing," law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told journalists after the meeting here. A notification in this regard will be issued tomorrow.

Prasad said that there were complaints that prices are rising despite adequate supply of onion and potato. There is also a huge gap between the wholesale and retail prices of these commodities.

The CCEA also decided to release 5 million tonnes of additional rice to below- poverty-line and above-poverty-line families through the PDS in states where the food security law has not been implemented. The additional rice, which will be over and above the normal PDS allocation, will be released from July to March. " We have sufficient supply.

There is no need to panic. We are taking all possible measures to improve supply and control prices," he added.

The minister said that the government is hopeful that the monsoon would improve from next week. The government is hoping good rains will wash away concerns of a drought- like situation in certain parts of the country due to predictions of deficient monsoon.

" Let's not panic. Rain Gods will be smiling on India. Today, it rained heavily in Delhi and Mumbai. The government hopes the rain will be okay in the coming weeks," he remarked.

Currently, pulses, edible oils and oilseeds are under stock limits till September. Storage curbs on rice and paddy will remain till November.

The Essential Commodities Act is aimed at ensuring easy availability of essential food items and to protect consumers from exploitation by unscrupulous traders. The law provides for regulation and control of production, distribution and pricing of commodities by the government.

Courtesy: Mail Today