Soon, subsidy stores for essential items

HYDERABAD: Retail outlets that would sell essential commodities at subsidised prices are to soon come up in the state, D Sridhar Babu, the minister for Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, announced on Sunday. He said that these outlets will follow the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.
The minister was speaking at a seminar organised by the Confederation of Andhra Pradesh Consumers' Organisations (CAPCO) on "Consumer Protection Act - 25 years' achievement".
Sridhar Babu said that, at a time of rising prices of essential commodities, these stores will help provide poor and middle-class citizens quality goods at a reasonable cost. The provisions at these stores will be bought directly from producers to reduce the expenses on middlemen.
The minister added that 88% of the state's population was already benefitting from subsidies introduced by the government.
Meanwhile, M Krishna Reddy, chairman, CAPCO said that although the consumer protection act was inked more than 25 years ago, it has not been effectively implemented.
"Consumers are being cheated everyday, be it while buying agricultural products, availing of financial services and entering real estate deals.
"The government should increase awareness on the consumer protection act," Reddy said.