CS hold meet on supply, price situation of essential commodities

In view of the ongoing farmer agitation in some of the neighbouring states, the Delhi chief secretary today chaired a meeting to deliberate on the supply and price situation of essential commodities, officials said.

Principal Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies; Delhi Police' Special Commissioner (Law and Order), vice-chairman of the Delhi Agricultural Marketing Board, director of the Animal Husbandry, secretaries of all Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs), were among those who attended it.

Essential commodities such as tomato, potato, onion, milk and milk products, food grains, eggs and poultry, were discussed at the meeting.

"It was informed by the secretaries of the APMCs that there has been a negligible impact of the farmers' agitation on the supply of the essential commodities in Delhi. The total arrival and prices have been steady," the government said in a statement.

"The government is closely monitoring the situation. There is no need for any panic by the residents of Delhi," it said.

The supply of tomato was "slightly impacted" yesterday.

For potatoes, the supply is being received from different warehouses across states. Similarly, there is no negative impact on onion supplies, it said.

The market functionaries on the basis of the arrival of these commodities have informed that the variation in the rates of these commodities is very less and sufficient supply is being received regularly in the mandies of Delhi, such as APMC Azadpur, APMC Keshopur and APMC Shahdara.

Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash also reviewed the supply and availability of milk and milk products along with the officials of the Delhi Milk Scheme, Amul and Mother Dairy.

The Delhi Police was requested by the chief secretary to collect information on "any abnormal rise" in the vegetables retail markets of Delhi.

The chief secretary advised the vice-chairman of the Delhi Agricultural Marketing Board to set up a control room which will monitor daily arrival and rates of all the major essential commodities in APMC Azadpur, APMC Keshopur and APMC Shahdara, and report to his office on a daily basis if any large variations are observed, the statement said.

Similar control room will be established by the Civil Supplies Department also. The officers of DMS, Mother Dairy and Safal and Amul representatives were requested to maintain smooth supply of milk and green vegetables in Delhi.