Food Secretary Swaran Singh on Tuesday conducted a surprise check on the quality of commodities sold at the Kamadhenu Supermarket on Big Street and asked officials to display the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) on the cover.
The surprise check comes in the wake of onion and potatoes being offered by Triplicane Urban Co-operative Society (TUCS) to the public at a discounted rate. Currently, these vegetables are offered at 10 supermarkets and 50 select ration shops of TUCS as market intervention measure. Tomatoes will be added soon.
Talking to The Hindu, Mr. Singh said: “Onions are sold at Rs.25 per kg against the market price of Rs.40. As the prices were cheap, the customers were picking up five kg instead of one kg. I wanted to see whether they had sufficient stock, the quality as well the packaging part of it. I have asked the officials to pack them in small quantities such as one kg and two kg so that it will be easy to handle.”
Mr. Singh said that the supermarket offered vegetables in the mornings and fruits in the evenings. This concept would be extended to all the supermarkets and ration shops run by TUCS and later in other ration shops. He also visited the TUCS godown to check whether everything was in order.
Automatic kerosene vending machine
According to him, the automatic kerosene vending machine will be fine-tuned and introduced on a trial basis within a fortnight.
