Bhubaneswar: As the Russia-Ukraine war has affected smooth supply of edible oil, the state government has asked the district collectors to check illegal hoarding and artificial crisis of the oil in the state.
Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain informed this through a series of tweets, Friday. He said many countries are directly or indirectly affected by the prevailing war situation and it will continue in the coming days too.
The price of edible oil, especially sunflower oil, is likely to rise unreasonably in the country. The price has already started impacting the market, Swain said.
The minister further informed that the concerned departmental officials and district collectors have been instructed to take appropriate measures to prevent the artificial crisis and stop black marketing of the commodity in order to ensure an uninterrupted supply of sunflower oil.
He urged the Union government to reduce the import duty and other surcharges on edible oils for a temporary period.
Otherwise, the rise in the prices of petrol, diesel, cooking gas, and the increase in the price of edible oils will make the life of poor people, farmers and even the middle class miserable, the minister said.
Meanwhile, representatives of India’s edible oil industry met Union Commerce and Food Minister Piyush Goyal Friday to discuss ways to check the galloping prices of the cooking medium as disruption of supplies of sunflower oil due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict threatens to make the situation worse.
PNN