Maha dishes out assurances as dal prices rise

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, November 28

The prices of pulses continue to soar despite assurances of increased supply by both Central and state governments. The retail price of tur dal touched Rs 230 per kg in the Mumbai market today. According to retailers, tur dal continues to be in short supply.

The wholesale price of tur dal is around Rs 180 per kg. “There is no change in supply in the past three months,” said Ashokbhai Maru, a trader of pulses in suburban Mumbai.

So far, the Maharashtra Government has seized 1.36 lakh tonnes of dal from various warehouses across the state. The government also announced plans to release the dal in the open market on a condition that it should be sold at Rs 100 per kg. However, after falling to Rs 180 per kg, the price of tur dal went up again.

Consumer activists have been demanding that the government should distribute the seized dal via the public distribution system.

Meanwhile, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has accused state Food and Civil Supplies Minister Girish Bapat of being in cahoots with people who sell on the black market.

“Only a small portion of the 1.36 lakh tonnes of dal seized by the authorities have been released in the market. What has happened to the remaining dal,” NCP leader Nawab Malik asked.

The NCP alleged that the BJP-Shiv Sena government was orchestrating a dal scam running into Rs 2,000 crore. However, Bapat told mediapersons today that the retail prices of pulses were coming down and tur dal would be available in the retail market at cheaper prices.

NCP demands judicial inquiry

Accusing state Food and Civil Supplies Minister Girish Bapat of being in cahoots with people who sell on the black market, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has demanded a judicial inquiry into the Rs 2,000 crore dal scam by a sitting judge