Banyumas Regent Confused When Blusukan Checks Cooking Oil Stock: Strange, Rare Items

Banyumas Regent Achmad Husein (right) during a surprise inspection regarding the availability of cooking oil at a shopping center, Purwokerto, Banyumas Regency, Saturday (19/2/2022). ANTARA/Sumarwoto

PURWOKERTO - Banyumas Regent, Achmad Husein, together with the Regional Leadership Communication Forum (Forkompimda) of Banyumas Regency, Central Java, conducted unannounced inspections (Blusukan) of several cooking oil agents and modern shops in Purwokerto to monitor the availability of cooking oil.

The regent said the inspection was carried out because for the past three days he had received complaints from the public through social media regarding the scarcity of cooking oil in the market.

"Therefore, this afternoon (Saturday) I and Forkompimda carried out inspections of a number of agents and modern shops in Purwokerto to monitor the availability of cooking oil", he said, quoted by Antara on Saturday, February 19.

From the monitoring results, he admitted that there was a shortage of cooking oil, but his party could not blame anyone.

According to him, his party also wants to know about the distribution of cooking oil at the distributor level.

"But, what is certain is that after checking, the items are rare. I will immediately gather cooking oil distributors to discuss this issue", he said.

His party will also look for a way out to anticipate the possibility that residents will come back and forth to the shopping center to just buy cooking oil in line with the restriction on the purchase of a maximum of two liters per person.

According to him, the way out that can be taken, for example by using a stamp or the buyer is obliged to show an identity card when buying cooking oil.

"Later, we are together with the Chief of Police to find a solution so that those who buy do not go back and forth in a day, once a week is enough, sorry for the others", he said.

Meanwhile, Purwokerto Wholesale and Retail Moro Public Relations and Promotion Officer, Adi Putranto, admitted that the stock of cooking oil in his shopping center is limited, so his party regulates and limits its sales.

In this case, he said, his party issued a stock of cooking oil to be displayed on the display rack in the afternoon, evening and night.

"The average is 200 cartons per session, approximately 600 liters per session. This is because we get cooking oil from distributors in limited quantities, so we arrange sales during the day, afternoon and evening", he said.

According to him, his party did not dare to release the stock of cooking oil since the morning because it would run out quickly.

Under normal conditions, he said, sales of cooking oil in shopping centers did not reach hundreds of cartons.

"Currently, sales are limited to one person, a maximum of two liters. We don't sell from the morning to avoid people buying back and forth, so we set the sale in the afternoon, evening and night", he said.

Meanwhile, the owner of the Mas Purwokerto Diamond Shop, Dani Alexander, also admitted that he was forced to limit the purchase of cooking oil at his wholesaler.

According to him, this was done because the supply of cooking oil from distributors was very difficult.

"The last supply from the distributor was in January, usually there was a supply once a week. I worked around this by selling 100 cartons per day, each containing 12 liters.

Regarding the scarcity of cooking oil in the market, the Chief of the Banyumas City Police, Commissioner Edy Suranta Sitepu, said his party had not yet found any cases of suspected hoarding of cooking oil in Banyumas.

"There are no reports of hoarding of cooking oil", he said.

Nevertheless, he said his party would continue to coordinate with the Banyumas Regency Industry and Trade Agency to jointly monitor the circulation of cooking oil in the region.