Govt to further import 1 lakh tn of chana, masoor dals

New Delhi, Aug 16 (PTI) As prices of pulses continue torule high, government today decided to import further 1 lakhtonnes of chana and masoor dals to boost domestic supply andcheck price rise. A decision in this regard was taken in the meeting of aninter-ministerial committee, headed by Consumer AffairsSecretary Hem Pande, here. Senior officials from the ministries of agriculture,food, commerce and finance ministries were present in themeeting. Officials from state-run trading firm MMTC andcooperative major Nafed were also present. "The government has decided to import further 20,000tonnes of chana and 80,000 tonnes of masoor to strengthenbuffer stock," the Food Ministry said in a statement. The meeting also discussed about alternate mechanism forthe release of pulses from the buffer stock at an appropriatetime for effective market intervention if sufficient quantityis not lifted by the states, it said. It was observed in the meeting that pulses prices wereshowing a declining trend in recent weeks and rates areexpected to fall further in view of good sowing of pulses. The Centre is importing pulses through MMTC, which has sofar contracted about 86,000 tonnes of lentils for the bufferstock purpose. Pulses from the buffer stock are given tostates for retail sale at a subsidised rate. So far, a buffer stock of 1.95 lakh tonnes of pulses hasbeen created through purchase from domestic and globalmarkets, while the target is 2 million tonnes. The state governments have been requested to expeditelifting of pulses of tur and urad from the buffer stock fordistribution at a subsidised rate of not more than Rs 120/kg. The Centre is giving pulses from the buffer stock tostates at lower rates. Tur is given at a rate of Rs 67/kg andurad at 82/kg. At present, pulses prices are retailing as high as Rs 185per kg due to shortfall in domestic ouput following twoconsecutive years of drought. Pulses output is estimated to be lower at 17.06 milliontonnes in 2015-16 crop year (July-June) as against the annualdemand of 23.5 million tonnes. The gap is being met throughimports. PTI LUXMR