The Palu City DPRD Asks The Government To Take Action On The Scarcity Of Cooking Oil

Cooking oil/Photo: Antara

PALU - The Regional People's Representative Council (DPRD) of Palu City, Central Sulawesi asked the local government and related parties to move quickly to overcome the scarcity of packaged cooking oil since last week.

Especially before the holy month of Ramadan, people's need for cooking oil as one of the main staples to meet food needs is quite high.

"Relevant agencies can ask the center to fulfill the quota of subsidized edible oil so that people's needs can be met," he said, Thursday, March 3.

He urged the Palu City Government to impose sanctions if any packaged cooking oil producers and distributors were caught hoarding cooking oil, causing a shortage and the price soaring.

"Relevant agencies must routinely carry out market operations, moreover there are already several warehouses in Palu City which were found to be used as storage places for packaged cooking oil by unscrupulous distributors," he said.

The Food Task Force (Satgas) of the Central Sulawesi Regional Police (Polda) succeeded in dismantling the alleged hoarding of 53,869 liters of cooking oil belonging to one of CV AJ's distributors in Palu City, Thursday, March 3.

According to the Head of the Food Task Force who is also the Director of Special Crimes (Dirrkrimsus) of the Central Sulawesi Regional Police, Kombes Pol. Ilham Saparona said that the warehouse which was used to store tens of thousands of liters of cooking oil was immediately sealed.

"So far we have sealed the two places after we found thousands of liters of Viola brand cooking oil that had been stockpiled since October 2021, a total of 4,209 boxes or 53,869 liters," said Head of the Central Sulawesi Police Food Task Force Kombes Pol Ilham Saparona in Palu City.

He explained that there was a shortage of cooking oil in the Central Sulawesi region. His party had monitored distributors who chose to delay selling their cooking oil, on the grounds that they were still buying from the factory at the old price.

Because, according to the distributor's assessment, the distributor will experience a loss in buying and selling at a price that has been regulated by the government. In fact, said the Head of the Central Sulawesi Police Food Task Force, the distributor's efforts are nothing more than a mode to seek profit in the midst of a shortage of cooking oil.