Post offices to sell pulses this Diwali

Centre to use India Post network of 154,000 outlets to sell chana, tur and urad

With prices of pulses, particularly that of chana and tur remaining high and states showing little interest in lifting pulses allocated by the Centre, the government on Friday decided to utilise its country-wide network of post offices to sell subsidised tur, urad and chana during the festival season.
 
India Post has more than 154,000 post offices, of which 139,000 are in villages. The government wants to use this network to supply pulses to remote parts of the country, including hilly and inaccessible regions. Earlier, the Centre had decided to use the network of khadi bhandar stores to sell pulses.
 
An inter-ministerial committee, headed by Consumer Affairs Secretary Hem Pande, took the decision at a meeting on Friday. The meeting was attended by senior officials of ministries of food, consumer affairs, agriculture, commerce and finance. Officials of state-run MMTC and NAFED were also present.
 
Prices of pulses like chana have risen by Rs 20-30 per kilogram in retail market in the past one month. “Since there are not many government outlets in states, we have decided to use the postal network for distribution of subsidised pulses from our buffer stock. This will improve availability during the ongoing festival season,” said a consumer affairs ministry official.
 
In order to boost chana (gram) supply and curb prices, the committee has decided to release more stock to government agencies for retail distribution, he said.
 
The government has been releasing tur and urad from its buffer stocks to state governments as well as agencies like Nafed and Mother Dairy for retail distribution at a subsidised rate. The government has targeted to create a buffer stock of 20 lakh-tonne pulses this year. In a separate statement, the consumer affairs ministry said the committee reviewed the prices of pulses, sugar and other essential commodities. “It was observed that there are declining trends in the prices of pulses in recent weeks,” it said.
 

The committee also reviewed procurement arrangements of Kharif pulses by the government agencies — FCI and Nafed. The government has set a procurement target of 50,000 tonnes for kharif pulses. So far, 500 procurement centres have been opened and farmers are being paid through instant bank transfers.