ITANAGAR, 28 Jan: The union consumer affairs, food & public distribution ministry has approved the proposal for sale of 30 lmt of wheat under the open market scheme.
To address the rising price of wheat and atta in the country, a group of ministers, headed by Home Minister Amit Shah, on Saturday discussed the buffer stock position of foodgrains in the country.
The Food Corporation of India’s (FCI) Itanagar regional office (RO) informed that, “in order to have quick impact on the rising prices,” the group of ministers approved a few steps.
The group, it said, decided that “wheat will be offered to the flour millers, bulk buyers, etc, through e-auction for a maximum quantity of 3,000 mt per buyer, per auction, from an FCI region under e-auction.”
Wheat will also be offered to the state governments and UTs for their schemes, without an e-auction.
“Apart from these, wheat will be offered at concessional rates of Rs 2,350/quintal to government PSUs, cooperatives, federations, kendriya bhandars, NCCF, NAFED, etc, without e-auction,” the RO informed.
“The sale under this special scheme will be subject to the stipulation that the buyer will convert wheat to atta and offer it to public at a maximum retail price of Rs 29.50 per kg,” it said.
“It has also been decided that the FCI will offload wheat within the next two months to the market for immediate impact on the rising wheat and atta prices. The FCI will start the process of e-auction of stocks immediately, throughout the country, from January to March,” the RO added.
“The intending empanelled flour mills, traders, empanelled bulk buyers, and manufacturers of wheat products may participate in the e-auction conducted by M junction on behalf of the FCI on the website http://www.valuejunction.in/fci.
“The list of depots and quantities offered at each depot are also available on the website,” it said.