Centre looks to rein in surging dal, tomato prices

At a high-level meeting, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley discussed ways to control prices with Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu.

The government is concerned about the prices of pulses ruling at a high of Rs 170 per kg and a spike in tomato prices to Rs 100 a kg. The reasons for the spike in prices and possible options available to check the same were discussed at the meeting.

Among the issues discussed were the releasing more pulses from the buffer stock whenever there is a demand from the states as well as importing pulses from Myanmar and Africa to deal with the price rise.

“In the meeting, the pulses issue was discussed in detail. Our department was told to procure more pulses for buffer stock,” Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said.

This year’s target is to procure 1.5 lakh tonnes of pulses for buffer stock creation and so far, 1.15 lakh tonnes have been purchased during the kharif and rabi seasons, while the rabi procurement is still going on, he added.

Besides pulses, the price rise of tomato, sugar and wheat was also discussed at the meeting.

Tomato prices have more than doubled to rule as high as Rs 100 per kg due to crop damage. Potato prices have also been on the rise.

Paswan informed in the meeting that the price rise in tomato was a “seasonal” factor and the commodity cannot be stored due to short shelf-life unlike wheat and rice. He also informed that his ministry is keeping a close watch on prices of pulses, sugar, wheat, tomato and other essential food items.