Agriculture ministry finds it hard to dispose of pulses' stock

The disposal of pulses, which were procured from foreign destinations as well as domestic procurement, to bring down the skyrocketing prices, is proving to be a major challenge for the official of Ministry of Consumer Affairs.

After failing to find a 'suitable' buyer for the year-old pulses' stock, the concerned ministry has brought the issue into notice of Committee of Secretaries (CoS) to find out a solution to dispose of the price sensitive lentils.

According to sources, the issue to 'sell' pulses would be discussed in the meeting of CoS. "Now, it's in the court of CoS to decide procedures for disposal of procured pulses, which are in buffer stock for over a year. The decision would obviously lessen the burden of the department," the source said, adding that the panel would first recommend the ways to dispose of pulses kept in the stock for over 10 months.

"Given the huge consumption of pulses in forces, the panel may ask paramilitary agencies as well government institutions such as Railways, to 'use' the old stock," the source said.

Notably, the Centre, which had faced the ire of billions of consumers in 2015 over the unprecedented rise in prices of lentils, is struggling to find buyers for more than 10 lakh tonne of pulses procured through imports at the rate of Rs 104 per kg.

The situation erupted after prices of pulses crashed in the domestic market in 2016 due to bumper production, states didn't turn up to buy imported pulses even at the rate of Rs 66 per kg, which is almost half of the procured price.