There could be no stopping to the soaring prices of major pulses such as blackgram, greengram and redgram running riot on the purse of consumer, at least till January-end, as the demand-supply gap is likely to continue till the arrival of stocks in the rabi season.
The short supply of pulses is attributed mainly to the dwindled cultivation during the kharif season not only in Telangana but also in the adjoining areas of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra from where the region generally gets its supplies.
“Arrival of fresh produce of blackgram and greengram in the market is very low and the traders are lapping it upon the arrivals by paying Rs.7,000 to Rs. 12,000 per quintal and Rs.6,000 to Rs.8,000 per quintal, respectively”, a trader of pulses at Tandur, B. Vishwanatham, said.
The import of 5,000 tonnes of redgram dal by the Centre recently is also not likely to have any impact on the retail prices of the commodity immediately as its cost, including transportation charges, is understood to be ranging between Rs.120 and Rs.130-a-kg. Besides, the imported commodity would be hard to cook compared to the local variety.
Official sources stated that the skyrocketing of redgram dal price during the recent weeks, now hovering around Rs.200-a-kg in the retail market, is due to hoarding of stocks by some traders in addition to the poor arrival of fresh stocks and in anticipation of making a fast buck.
When contacted, Commissioner of Civil Supplies Dr. Rajat Kumar told The Hindu that their role with regard to retail market is to prevent hoarding and black-marketing and the district Collectors were already told to act tough against such illegal practices to ease the retail prices to some extent.
“We are supplying redgram dal subsidised price of Rs.50-a-kg on ration cards to below poverty line families by procuring the commodity in advance. Dal millers were convinced to open some sales counters (38) a few months back when the price was below Rs.100 to sell it Rs.10 less than the market price to stabilise the price. Such intervention is not possible now since the traders themselves are paying farmers 100 to 150 per cent higher price to the produce,” Dr. Rajat Kumar explained.
Arrival of redgram from January-February and rabi produce of blackgram and greengram could plug demand-supply gap to some extent and bring down the prices, the official hoped.
