Centre takes stock of rise price of tomatoes, Safal outlets to sell puree packs from Friday

Another larger pack of 825 grams will also be made available at the outlets.

An official release said that Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, on Thursday chaired an inter-ministerial meeting to take stock of the rise in prices of tomatoes in some parts of the country including Delhi-NCR.

The representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare informed that supply has been hit due to incessant rains in Maharashtra and Karnataka and will normalise in the next 10 days as monsoon rains were receding.

"To mitigate the shortfall in the availability of tomatoes in Delhi, Safal has agreed to provide tomato puree from all its outlets in Delhi at Rs 25 per 200-gram pack, which is equivalent to about 800 grams of tomatoes. Another larger pack worth 825 grams worth Rs 85 will also be made available, which is equivalent to about 2.5 kg of tomatoes," said the release.

Safal is a brand of Mother Dairy.

The release said the stocks have already been moved to all the outlets and the sale will begin from Friday at all the booths.

It said that tomato-producing states will be requested to facilitate augmenting the supply.

"Tomato producing states have been regularly advised to interact with APMCs, traders, and transporters to ensure regular supply. The same is being reiterated to four major tomato producing states -- Maharashtra, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh so that prices normalise and supply is augmented immediately," added the release.