Govt to import more pulses

New Delhi, June 30 

Concerned over continuous rise in prices of pulses — both at the retail and wholesale markets, the Central government on Thursday adopted multi-pronged strategy to deal with the crisis which includes further imports and distributing 'chana dal' at subsidised prices, an official statement said.

“In order to ensure availability of pulses at reasonable prices, the National Consumer Cooperative Federation (NCCF) has been directed to start selling chana dal at Rs 60 per kg through its mobile outlets in Delhi,” said the Food Ministry statement.

Chaired by Consumer Affairs Secretary Hem Pande, the meeting reviewed the import and procurement of pulses for buffer stock and allocation to the states for further distribution.

“The meeting decided to further tender import of 5,000 million tonnes chana and 2,500 million tonnes ‘masoor’. It also asked the Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation of India (MMTC) to order import of 2,500 million tonnes of masoor against its already contracted quantity,” the ministry said. IANS