TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi-In the absence of government outlets in states, the Centre will utilise huge network of post offices across the country to sell subsidised pulses, mainly tur, urad and chana, to ensure availability in the ongoing festival season.
An inter-ministerial committee, headed by Consumer Affairs Secretary Hem Pande, took the decision at its meeting in New Delhi on Friday. It was attended by senior officials of ministries of food, consumer affairs, agriculture, commerce and finance, as well as officials of State-run MMTC and NAFED.
“Since there are not many government outlets in states, we have decided to use the postal network for distribution of subsidised pulses from our buffer stock. This will improve availability in the ongoing festival season,” a senior consumer affairs ministry official said after the meeting. In order to boost chana (gram) supply and curb prices, the committee has decided to release more stock to government agencies for retail distribution, he said. There are 1.54 lakh post offices in the country, of which 1.39 lakh are in rural areas.
