Maha govt deliberately suppressed info on stock of pulses: NCP

Stepping up its attack on the Maharashtra government over spiralling prices of tur dal, the NCP today questioned why details of the seized pulses which were auctioned or off-loaded in the market were not shared at the meeting called by Union Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha in Delhi on November 18.
Addressing a press conference here, NCP spokesman Nawab Malik charged that Maharashtra Food and Civil Supplies Minister Girish Bapat had deliberately suppressed details about how much stock of pulses, which exceeded the limit of permissible storage and how much quantity was auctioned in the market to increase availability.
Details of only six states -- Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Odisha Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan -- have been uploaded on the Press Information Bureau (PIB) website, Malik said.

"Why details of the seized pulses which were auctioned or off-loaded in the market, were not shared at the meeting called by Union Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha in Delhi on November 18?" he asked.
He said Bapat informed yesterday that 1,36,000 tonnes of pulses have been seized in Maharashtra while Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said 13,000 metric tonnes of seized pulses will be auctioned in the open market.
"What happened to the 1.23 lakh metric tonnes is the question that the government should answer," Malik said.

He said on June 10 this year, the Centre had asked states to fix a limit on storage of pulses and also ordered purchase of the stock and making available the additional stock on PDS.

"However, the state government gave the necessary orders on October 19. Why were the directives not issued between June and October during which the prices of dal crossed Rs 200?
"Even though the matter was brought to the notice of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Augsut 25, he did not issue orders against hoarding of pulses for three months," Malik alleged.