Sanjeev Chopra, Secretary of the Department of Food and Public Distribution of the central government reviewed the progress of Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) on Thursday. He particularly reviewed the progress of supply of Atta (wheat flour) at Rs. 29.50 per kg through various outlets in the country for sale to consumers with a view to check inflationary trends in the food economy said an official statement.

During the meeting with the Food Corporation of India (FCI), Kendriya Bhandar, National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India Limited (NCCF), it was decided that these institutions will get wheat upto 3 LMT from FCI Depots and after converting it into Atta they will sell it to Consumers at Rs 29.50 per kg through various retail outlets and mobile Van etc.

These institutions agreed to supply Atta at Rs. 29.50 per kg, which is to be named as “Bharat Atta” or “any other suitable name” with bold mention of the MRP of Rs. 29.50 per Kg. Kendriya Bhandar has already started the sale of Atta at the price from Thursday itself, however, NCCF and NAFED will supply Atta at the decided price from February 6 onwards, said the Food and Public Distribution department.

It was also decided that Corporations, Cooperatives, Federations and Self Help Group of State Governments and UTs may also get allocated wheat at Rs. 23.50 per Kg from the Government of India on the recommendation of the respective State Government/ UT for sale of Atta to consumers at the decided price.

Earlier on January 25, the Committee of Ministers under the chairmanship of Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the prices of essential commodities and decided to release 30 LMT wheat from FCI stock through OMSS.

It was decided that 25 LMT be offered through the e-auction route to traders, flour mills, etc as per the usual process followed by FCI. Bidders can participate in e-auction for a maximum quantity of 3000 MT per region per auction. Two LMTs be offered to State Governments for their schemes at 10,000 MT per State without e-auction. And three LMTs be offered to Govt PSUs, cooperatives and Federations such as Kendriya Bhandar, NCCF and NAFED without e-auction. This will be subject to the stipulation that they convert wheat to atta and offer it to the public at an MRP not exceeding Rs 29.50 per kg.

Subsequently, DFPD allocated of 2.5 LMT of wheat to Kendriya Bhandar, NAFED and NCCF as per their requisitions. Kendriya Bhandar and NAFED were allocated one LMT each and 50000 MT was allocated to NCCF on January 27. (ANI)