States not informing Centre of pulses requirement: Minister

State governments which blame the Centre for not providing sufficient stock of pulses have failed to inform the central government of their requirements so far, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said in the Lok Sabha today.
Responding to supplementaries during Question Hour on shortage of pulses, he said the Centre has repeatedly asked the state governments to give in writing their demands, but "states which blame the Government of India have not forwarded their demands."
Paswan said that out of the 22 essential commodities, only the prices of pulses have gone up. This, he said, is mainly due to the gap between demand and local production. Hoarding is the second reason for the shortage of pulses in the market.

In his written response, the Minister said in pulses, the prices of tur, urad and chana dal have increased. Besides, the prices of potato and sugar have also gone up.
The minister pointed out that private importers who purchase pulses from abroad keep the stock at ports and bring it to the open market only when the demand hikes.
He said while agencies like Customs are investigating such malpractices, the state governments too have been empowered to take action as they are primarily responsible to check hoarding.
He said it is up to the state governments to either sell or auction foodgrains seized from hoarders and blackmarketeers.

The minister said there is no official assessment of direct impact of water shortage on prices, but it adversely affects the sown area and productivity of crops.