Maharashtra government on Tuesday gave traders one year to comply with the new restrictions on loose edible oil, a week after it paused the immediate ban to effectively defer enforcement while working out a transition mechanism.
The decision was taken at a meeting held by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis with representatives of the trading community on Tuesday. The government will also constitute a joint committee of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials and trader representatives to identify the changes traditional oil businesses need to make to comply with the existing law and recommend measures to facilitate the transition. The move comes amid strong resistance from traders to the government’s decision to enforce restrictions on the sale of loose edible oil.
Because it is cheaper than packaged alternatives, however, he also acknowledged that a large section of economically weaker consumers continues to buy loose oil. On August 23, loose edible oil traders held a statewide meeting and threatened to launch an aggressive agitation, giving the government a 15-day ultimatum to revoke the restrictions. Fadnavis said the law regulating the sale of loose edible oil was enacted in 2011 and stressed that the quality of edible oil remained the government’s primary concern.
“The state government therefore needed to strike a balance between enforcing food-safety norms and addressing the concerns of consumers and traditional traders,” Fadnavis said. “Traders will have to comply with the law once the one-year period ends,” he said.
