Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Oct 29: The state government Wednesday decided to set up distribution centres in six cities to sell pulses. The move is aimed at supplying dal to consumers at reasonable prices in the backdrop of the government being unable to regulate the surge in retail rates.
The distribution centres will be opened at Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Berhampur and Balasore, said food supplies and consumer welfare (FSCW) department secretary Madhusudan Padhi.
The government decision also involves selling dal through retailers with direct intervention of civil supply officials.
“The sale of dal would be made under the direct supervision of the food supplies and consumer welfare department. Each consumer would be entitled to 1 kg of dal,” Padhi said.
The Bargarh model would be followed while selling dal, Padhi said. The Bargarh Traders’ Association and the local administration have been coordinating among themselves to provide urad dal and moong dal to consumers at `140 and `110 per kg respectively, sources said.
Padhi said all collectors have been asked to follow the Bargarh model and put in place parallel arrangements in their districts.
Food supplies and consumer welfare minister Sanjay Dasburma said his department is making efforts to regulate the price of dal.
The skyrocketing dal prices, which have not seen any downward trend in the past two months, have turned out to be a major challenge for the state government. Some varieties of pulses continue to be sold at rates higher than `150 a kg in many parts of the state.
To check this rise, officials of the department have been cracking down on hoarders. The FSCW department had till Tuesday seized about 11,100 quintals of pulses.
On the sixth consecutive day of raids, officials Tuesday had conducted simultaneous crackdowns at various places in Berhampur, Koraput, Sunabeda and Semliguda in which 930 quintals of pulses were seized from Berhampur.
Meanwhile, the Cuttack Chamber of Commerce (CCC), which had opposed the de-hoarding drive in Cuttack city and had launched a strike against import of the essential commodity for an indefinite period from Wednesday, has now called off its stir.
The decision was taken after a meeting with the district collector and civil supplies officials who have reportedly assured them of the immediate release of seized pulses from the city after enquiry.
