TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi-With prices soaring to as high as Rs 170 per kg, the government today went into a huddle at the top level and decided to import pulses from Myanmar and Africa and beef up buffer stocks to check the spike. With government under attack, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan sought to shift the blame on states saying they are equally responsible for keeping the prices of essential commodities under control.
At the high-level meeting, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley discussed ways to control prices with Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, 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, sources said, adding the supplies were short of demand about 70 lakh tonnes.
Among the options discussed were 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.
