INVC,,
Delhi,,
Prof. K.V. Thomas, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has urged the National Cooperative Consumer Federation (NCCF) to plan new strategies and expend its network to take advantage of the free and open economic environment in the country. The Minister was addressing the Annual General Meeting of NCCF here today.
Lauding the role of NCCF, Prof. Thomas said that the consumer cooperatives have played an important role in safeguarding the interests of consumers. During the time of scarcity, the private trade had frequently failed to render the required services to the consumers by adopting straight forward business practices. The consumer cooperatives were found the only answer to protect the interests of consumers during such time, he observed.
The Minister said that the NCCF has played a pioneer role in importing pulses and selling them to consumers at subsidized rates. It has also performed direct market intervention by selling wheat, pulses and onion in retail to check artificial price rise and to provide relief to consumers. He said that role of NCCF, as state agency, in distribution of levy sugar in Delhi and Mumbai has reduced mal-practices considerably. He expressed the hope that the NCCF will be entrusted the distribution of other PDS items also by the states to improve the functioning of PDS. The Minister also congratulated the NCCF for improvement in its sales and profitability in recent years.
