Telangana rice to go straight from millers to retailers; PD Act planned for habitual offenders

Telangana rice will now travel from the mill to the neighbourhood shop without a wholesaler in between. The Civil Supplies Department announced on Monday, 9 November, that it will supply rice directly from millers to local retailers, in a move meant to hold down prices.

A retailer who needs stock has to submit an indent, a written request for the quantity required, to the District Civil Supplies Officer of the district. The department will then arrange supply from the millers. Civil Supplies Director and Chief Rationing Officer G.V. Shyam Prasad Lal asked shopkeepers not to panic or raise prices. Some retailers had claimed they were running short of stock, and the department warned middlemen against spreading talk of a shortage to push prices up.

Price caps and the checks behind them

The announcement follows the price limits the government set on three fine-rice groups around ten days earlier. The maximum retail price is Rs 66 a kg for BPT and KNM, Rs 74 for RNR and Telangana Sona, and Rs 79 for HMT and JSR. Retailers were told to display these prices prominently.

Alongside, the department’s Enforcement Task Force and the Legal Metrology wing have been inspecting shops. They found 25-kg bags carrying 26-kg labels and packs with a higher MRP printed over the original price. The department said it is preparing to invoke the Preventive Detention (PD) Act against habitual offenders.

What a shopper can check

The limits give buyers two simple tests. The price charged for BPT, KNM, RNR, Telangana Sona, HMT or JSR should not exceed the figures above, and the MRP should be displayed in the shop. A bag sold as 26 kg should actually weigh 26 kg, since the inspections found 25-kg bags marked with that figure. The department has not announced a date by which the direct supply will begin in each district.