Meeting of Price Monitoring Cell (PMC), Food and CS Department and Meeting with DCSOs
Gangtok, November 02, 2026: The Price Monitoring Cell (PMC) of the Department of Food and Civil Supplies, Government of Sikkim had a workshop on Price Monitoring of Essential Commodities and functioning of the PMC today in its headquarters in Gangtok. The event was attended by Ms Supriya Saxena, Director, Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Government of India. She was joined by Junior Statistical Officer Mr Ankit Kumar. Ms Supriya Saxena highlighted upon the importance of reporting daily price of essential commodities which will ultimately help the authorities to take decisions at senior levels.
Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Government of India had issued directions to State Governments for the establishment of Price Monitoring Cells (PMCs) to monitor the prices of essential commodities. Accordingly, the Food and Civil Supplies Department, Government of Sikkim, established the Price Monitoring Cell in the State.
Secretary, Mr. Bhim Thatal, SCS, while addressing the guests and participants in the workshop mentioned that initially, daily prices of essential commodities were collected and reported only from Gangtok. However, the price-reporting centres have been expanded to cover all six districts of the State from the year 2024-25 onwards. The Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, provides financial assistance for the functioning of the Cell.
The main functions of the Price Monitoring Cell in the State include collection of wholesale and retail prices of essential commodities from designated three shops in the open market in each of the six districts of the State, as per their availability in the market. It also does entry and submission of the collected price data through the Price Monitoring System (PMS), application by the concerned Data Entry Operators (DEOs) in their respective districts and uploading and transmission of the collected price information to the Ministry through the designated online portal for monitoring and analysis.
The primary objective of the Price Monitoring Cell is to assist the Government of India in monitoring price trends of all 41 essential commodities across the country and to provide timely and reliable price information for policy formulation and decision-making. However, in Sikkim, price of only 33 items are collected subject to local demand. The data collected through the PMC support the assessment of market trends, monitoring of price fluctuations, and the formulation of appropriate measures relating to consumer welfare and price stability.
During the meeting, Special Secretary Ms Tenzin Yangchen, SCS looking after the PDS welcomed the guests and participant and also highlighted upon the importance of the meeting.
Later in the afternoon, the Secretary Mr Bhim Thatal had a meeting with all the six District Civil Supplies Officers and took review of the issues pertaining to rightful target under the PDS. He also emphasised upon settling grievances under the Smart PDS.
Addressing the DCSOs, the Secretary instructed them to organise consumer awareness s event which must also include informing the supplies and shop owners about their roles and rights of the consumers.
