Even as the Centre on Monday floated a fresh tender for import of 2,000 tonnes of tur dal to augment supplies, the State-run Kendriya Bhandars and Safal outlets will start selling earlier stocks of imported arhar from October 15.
The fresh imports will be delivered by next month to ease the situation during the festival season.
The price of tur dal has multiplied several-fold on account of shortfall in production taking the price of the pulse to about Rs.150 per kg in Delhi markets.
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The government is still working out its pricing for the imported dal but Kendriya Bhandar and Safal will lift their supplies before milling at Rs.69 per kg. However, what will come to the market will include cost of processing, packaging as well as transportation. Sources said the price would be lower than the retail market price.
These decisions were taken at a meeting of an inter-ministerial committee, headed by Consumer Affairs Secretary C. Vishwanath. The panel reviewed the pulses price situation.
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To control pulses prices in other states, imported dal has been allocated to states as per their request. Allocations to Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have been made, the statement said.
MMTC has contracted to import 5,000 tonnes of tur dal, out of which 3,250 tonnes have landed at Chennai and Mumbai ports. The public sector firm has separately contracted to import 5,000 tonnes of urad.
The panel agreed to appoint an independent agency of experts for prior forecast of availability for effective and timely market intervention, an official press note said.