Covid-19 pandemic: USC providing subsidy on 5 essential commodities

ISLAMABAD: During Covid-19 pandemic, despite curtailed working hours and employees of Utility Stores Corporation of Pakistan being vulnerable to the pandemic, USC ensured uninterrupted supplies of essential commodities via its widespread network of retail outlets. As a matter of fact USC did not spend any amount on account of Covid-19 funds as ECC of the cabinet converted Rs 10 billion into Rs 7.7 billion as general subsidy and Rs 2.3 billion for the automation of USC.

It is worthwhile to mention here that under the Prime Minister’s Relief Package, USC has successfully served over 90 million households since January, 2020 by providing subsidy on five essential commodities namely wheat flour, ghee, sugar, rice and pulses. During these testing times USC has also assisted Government of Pakistan in regulating prices of essential commodities in open market.

USC procures ghee/ oil from Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) recommended manufacturers and maintains high level quality of edible ghee/ oil. Thus, USC assures that no bad quality ghee/ oil is procured.

USC procures sugar, rice and pulses by floating tenders following Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules as per government standards. The aim of doing procurement through following PPRA rules is to ensure transparency and accountability. Thus, USC assures high quality food products to its consumers and effective quality controls, standards and mechanisms are being adopted to ensure good quality of products.

Moreover, USC is providing good quality wheat flour as per human consumption standards after carrying out laboratory tests.

For better quality controls, USC is in the phase of Enterprise Resource Planning system (ERP) implementation. In its first phase 90 percent of Point of Sales (POS) machines have been deployed and installed in USC outlets. The first phase will be live by December 31, 2021. In the second phase warehouses, supply chain management and human resource management modules will be automated and connected to datacenter which will strengthen systems, bring transparency and improve decision making through timely and quality data management. USC is committed to providing high quality and hygienically fit products and better services to its customers.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021