Minister for Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali today asked the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to explore possibilities for setting up of at least 10 permanent mandis across the Jammu and Kashmir for ensuring hassle-free procurement of food-grains.Chairing a review meeting, the Minister said that both Central as well as State Governments are keen to facilitate the farmers by way of strengthening the network of procurement markets at their doorstep for disposal of their produce without any difficulty, and there is a need to set up at-least 10 mandies at prominent locations in the State. These facilities would also help in ensuring competitive returns to the farmers for their products and adequate buffer stock of grains in the market, said the Minister.The Minister elaborated that with the inception of mandis the role of middle-men will also be reduced to a large extent and farmers will have direct dealing in the market in a systematic manner thus ensuring more profit for their produce. Apart from FCI godowns, the mandis could also be used to store the food grains thereby cutting down on transportation charges to a great extent on the part of farmers, he added.
The Minister also called for diversification of “Fair Price shops” by introducing “Non Food Grain” items, maintaining that Chief Minister is particular about viability of Fair Price Shops. Presently, the Department is providing staple food grains, including wheat, rice, and sugar through a network of Fair Price Shops. However, the shops could be made more viable by introducing non food grain items such as pulses, edible oil and allied food items to make them more sustainable and multiple activity for the benefit of the consumers, said the Minister.Directors FCS&CA, Jammu, Kashmir, G S Chib, and Tasaduq Jeelani were directed to formulate a “Salt Control Order” with an upper as well as lower cap for both retail as well as whole sellers. He violators of the order must be booked and punished as per the law.The Minister also directed for revisiting the prices of mutton, milk and its allied products to ensure availability of quality consumable products in the market.Secretary FCS&CA, Shafiq Ahmed Raina, FCI General Manager, Kishore Kumar and other concerned officers attended the meeting.