Members of the security forces will accompany the officials of the Commerce Commission this Saturday as the commission steps up its work to ensure that the major supermarkets in the main centers of the country follow the Price Control Order for the basic food items.
This confirmation has come through the Chairman of the Commerce Commission, Doctor Mahendra Reddy as he said the commission will ensure the consumers benefit from the prices which will be set by this Thursday.
Doctor Reddy said the members of the security forces will be providing security to the commission officials as the commission will actively start checking from Saturday on whether some retailers have removed the price control basic food items from the shelves and have stored them in the bulk store and whether the items are still being sold at prices higher than the maximum prices set.
He said this is illegal under the Commerce Commission Decree and on the spot fines will be imposed on the retailers if they are caught doing this from this Saturday.
Doctor Reddy stressed that the retailers have to follow the new Maximum Retail Prices set.
Doctor Reddy stressed that the Commission is not against business houses making profit.
However he said they have to be reasonable and follow the order under the decree.
He also said the businesses need to follow the processes and forward their costing on items under price control if they say that they are selling items at below cost.
Doctor Reddy said the wholesalers and retailers were given four weeks to provide their costing for the basic food items however this did not eventuate.
He said the retailers only started coming forward from last Thursday when they knew that they had to follow the new Price control order from last Saturday.
He reveals that the pricing methodology used by the commission to set the maximum wholesale and retail prices for about 22 basic food items was based on quotations from suppliers, other costs and mark-ups.
He confirms that a review of the prices earlier announced is currently underway and a further announcement will be made by Thursday.
Story by: Vijay Narayan
Members of the Police Force to join us to enforce set prices-Reddy
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