Concerned over the rising food inflation, the Central government has asked the State governments to remove all local taxes on essential food items including pulses and edible oils, a government statement said on Sunday.
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has written a letter to Chief Secretaries of the States, asking the States to take up the market intervention on a real time basis and to review the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) Acts on priority to de-list pulses and other essential food items so that farmers can sell their produce at any place of their choice, minimising stages of supply chain from farm gate to ultimate consumers.
“It will ensure reasonable prices for consumers and also fetch better prices for farmers,” said the letter by Mr. Hem Pande, Secretary Union Department of Consumer Affairs.
The Consumer Affairs Secretary has invited the attention of States towards the action plan adopted for this purpose in the States Food Ministers meeting held in May earlier this year.
The States were requested to consider a pricing policy for pulses and such other essential food items under the Section 3(2) (c) of the Essential Commodities (EC) Act and to make it enforceable for all the stake holders to cap the prices of essential commodities.
The Centre has asked the States to implement the price stabilisation fund scheme for market intervention to enhance availability and check prices of essential commodities. “For successful functioning of the scheme, adequate and timely lifting of pulses from buffer stock is a pre-requisite besides strengthening storage facilities for pulses, vegetables edible oils seeds and onions,” the letter added.
Also, States have been advised to keep a close watch on hoarding and black marketing of essential commodities in view of coming festival season.
The Centre asked the States to create a robust information management system of prices, production, availability, unscrupulous trading, hoarding, black marketing and to strengthen the price monitoring cells to have the ground zero information available on daily basis and sharing it with all the enforcement agencies of union and state governments.
