The Food and Civil Supplies department is mulling a report by a committee chaired by State Planning Board member K. Ravi Raman to study the problems faced by Supplyco.
The expert committee had submitted its report a week ago.
Minister for Food and Civil Supplies G.R. Anil, at a press conference here on Wednesday, said the report had not come up for discussion in the Cabinet on Wednesday, but it would without much delay.
The Minister said the report did not recommend discontinuing subsidies. The government wanted to provide relief to the people from market price of commodities without too much of a burden, and the expert committee report too was in a similar vein.
He pointed out that prices of the 13 subsidised commodities retailed through Supplyco outlets had remained unchanged since 2016. Supplyco’s market intervention had been very effective till now. More than 40 lakh families purchased commodities, including subsidised essentials, every month.
It was only in the past couple of months that a crisis had arisen. No outlet had been closed or employee laid off. However, the financial difficulties faced by the government had affected the support received by Supplyco from it. Efforts were on to change this situation.
Mr. Anil pointed out that a majority of non-subsidy commodities were available in the Supplyco outlets without any disruptions. These were available at 5-25% less than the market price.
In the case of subsidised commodities, efforts were on to pay the suppliers their dues and ensure their cooperation.
The Minister said a number of recommendations, including sale of liquor and taking public sector institution land for starting petrol pumps, had been made by the Supplyco managing director, but no decision had been taken on them.
To prevent problems that occurred in paying farmers for paddy procurement in the past season, the bank consortium had been asked to pay farmers within 15 days of procurement. The consortium had assured that once farmers submitted the paddy receipt sheet (PRS), the money would be paid to them within seven working days, the Minister said.
