Odisha to place order with centre for 5,000 tonne of pulses

The Odisha government on Saturday said it would purchase 5,000 tonnes of pulses from the central government, which has decided to provide subsidy on 'tur' and 'urad' dals for distribution by states at retail price of not more than Rs.120 per kg, to meet the skyrocketing price of the staple in the state.

Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Secretary Madhusudan Padhi said the state would place its demand of 5,000 tonnes of dal in the first phase.

"The central government has decided to release 10,000 tonnes of dal. It has asked us to place our demand to avail benefit and utilise the available stocks for managing the prices of pulses. We have decided to get 5,000 tonne in the first phase," he said.

The central government would provide unmilled tur dal at Rs.66 per kg and unmilled urad dal at Rs.82 per kg to the states, providing a subsidy of Rs.27 and Rs.14 per kg respectively.

The state would sell the milled/processed dals after packaging at a reasonable price which should not be more than Rs.120 per kg, said Padhi.

The state government has also been asked to keep a close watch on the prices and to take stringent action against hoarding of the commodity. The union government has built a buffer of 50,000 tonnes by way of domestic procurement. Additionally about 26,000 MT of tur and urad dals have been contracted for imports.

--IANS

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