Centre asks states to ensure pulses sell at reasonable price

The Centre on Saturday asked the state governments and union territories to hold meeting with millers, wholesalers and retailers to ensure the pulses were available at reasonable price in retail.

In a communication to the states and union territories, the central government has said that distribution of Tur, Urad, Chana and other pulses at reasonable prices through Public Distribution System (PDS) by some states has helped stabilising the prices, an official statement said here on Saturday.

Other states may consider the step also to control the prices, it added.

Among several measures taken by the Centre to keep prices under check, certain quantity of Tur dal has been imported and the states have been requested to indicate their requirement for retail distribution to contain price rise of pulses.

Some states have responded and also lifted certain quantities of Tur dal.

Meanwhile, de-hoarding operations across the states continued. These have resulted in seizure of 74,846.359 MT pulses so far. Total 6,077 raids have been conducted by the states after the amendment in the central order under the Essential Commodities Act, the statement added.