The licence of Vivek Gas Company, a city-based LPG distributor, was revoked by the minister and the agency has been put under the direct control of the district collector after the distributor was allegedly found to have indulged in large-scale irregularities.

The minister also instructed officials of the civil supplies department to consider every complaint seriously. He said that apart from receiving hundreds of complaints against the Varachha-based Vivek Gas Company, the department was also looking into complaints against another Kanak Petroleum at Sachin.

Singh, who is in the city, also held talks with delegates of various associations of dealers. The minister, who also held discussions with oil and petroleum traders of the city and region, warned of strict measures against those dealers found to be providing less fuel or adulterating the fuel with kerosene or solvent.

He instructed officials to accord top priority to complaints related to petrol and diesel pumps of the city and take appropriate steps to resolve black marketing.

Among other important questions that came up for discussion was the irregularities in fair price shops as well as rampant blackmarketing of kerosene by dealers. Singh also promised to look into cases of alleged irregularities by department officials themselves in the allocation of fair price shops after the issue came up for discussion.

Singh suggested that if required, the department could construct godowns for the storage of goods sold under the PDS and if land was not available, rooms could be rented. He, however, added that the civil supplies officer should keep a strict watch on the managers of the godowns, as earlier cases had revealed irregularities being committed by the managers themselves. The minister was also apprised about the shortage of godowns.

Explaining the government's position on the non-availability of groundnut oil, Singh said that the its prices were likely to rise because of the shortage of crop this year, but added that the government would intervene to keep it under control. He said that the government would even consider announcing extra subsidies to ensure that the poor people received an uninterrupted flow of essential commodities.