Government not to allow prices of pulses to rise: Minister

The central government will not allow pulse prices to go up further, Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Wednesday. He said four lakh million tonnes of pulses will be imported soon from Mozambique and Myanmar.

"Two lakh million tonnes of pulses each will be imported from Mozambique and Myanmar," Paswan told reporters here.

He said the government will allow importers to keep pulses' stocks for 45 days.

Till now, the importers were not allowed to keep stocks for long in view of fears of hoarding. Importers had protested saying they required some time gap to arrange transport for further supply of the commodity.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday approved a long-term contract for import of pulses from Mozambique by signing an MoU for supply through private channels or government-to-government sales via state-run agencies.

The MoU will augment domestic availability of pulses in India and thereby stabilise the prices, an official source said.

--IANS

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