On the occasion of the 49th Annual General Meeting of NCCF convened at NCUI Auditorium, Ram Vilas Paswan, the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution seemed satisfied with the performance of Apex Body of Consumer Cooperatives in India, which has registered a turnover of about Rs 800 crores with a profit of Rs 7.70 crores.
The Minister further lauded the role of NCCF in protecting the interest of consumers by making available a variety of consumer goods at most competitive prices to the consumers. Efforts made by NCCF in procurement of paddy and wheat in the states of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam and Tamil Nadu were appreciated by the Minister. The Union Minister also appreciated the interventions made by NCCF in making available pulses and tomatoes at the subsidised price to the consumers in Delhi, which helped in stabilising the prices.
The Minister also underlined the importance of maintaining a buffer stock of pulses to effectively deal with a situation of sudden surge in the prices of pulses to safeguard the interest of consumers in the country. Under Price Stabilising Scheme, the need for designating NCCF as one of the agencies for procurement of pulses was underlined by the Minister. In order to keep the retail prices of essential commodities at reasonable level at all times, it is important that agencies like Mother Dairy and Kendriya Bhandar, NCCF should also have a sufficient number of retail outlets in Delhi. To start with, NCCF should make efforts for having one shop in each of the Government establishments for which the Minister assured to write to all the concerned ministries.
The nation is celebrating the 3rd anniversary of Swachh Bharat Mission this year. A special cleanliness drive has been launched from September 15 to October 2 on pan India basis under the tag line Swachhta Hi Seva. NCCF has also been consistently making efforts to keep its offices and surroundings clean. The Minister appreciated the efforts of NCCF in this direction. The Minister also appreciated the efforts of NCCF towards digitisation of important office records and also for bringing about greater transparency in its working by making use of IT. The induction of professional in the organisation would further provide impetus and qualitative change in the working of the Federation, the Minister said.
The Minister also congratulated the management of NCCF in successfully organising its AGM.