Centre directs states to monitor Tur and Urad prices; crackdown on stock limit violators

Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs Nidhi Khare conveyed this directive during a meeting convened to review the disclosure of stock for tur and urad, as well as the enforcement of stock limits by state governments.

"In the meeting, the state governments have been asked to continuously monitor the prices and verify the stock positions of stock-holding entities and take strict action on those who violated the stock limits order," an official statement said.

During the meeting, the retail prices and quantities of stocks disclosed by different stock-holding entities were reviewed, as well as the stocks stored in the warehouses of the Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) and State Warehousing Corporations (SWCs) for tur and urad.

The discussion also focused on the actions taken by the states to address any discrepancies between the quantities pledged by market players to banks, quantities declared on the stock disclosure portal, and the enforcement of stock limits.

"Further, CWC and SWCs were asked to furnish details of tur and urad stocks in their respective warehouses, on a regular basis," the statement said.

On June 2, the government imposed stock limits on tur and urad till October 31 to prevent hoarding and unscrupulous speculation, besides improving affordability to the consumers.

Stock limits applicable to each of the pulse individually are 200 MT for wholesalers; 5 MT for retailers; 5 MT at each retail outlet and 200 MT at depot for big chain retailers; last 3 months of production or 25% of annual installed capacity, whichever is higher, for the millers.

The order has also made it mandatory for these entities to declare the stock position on the portal (https://fcainfoweb.nic.in/psp) of the Department.

The stock limit order was the culmination of various steps taken by the Department of Consumer Affairs to ensure affordability of Tur dal and Urad dal to the consumers, starting with the stock declaration advisory.

In March 2023, the Department constituted a Committee under the chairmanship of Additional Secretary, Nidhi Khare to monitor the stock of Tur held by entities such as importers, millers, stockists, traders etc. in close coordination with the state governments.

A series of meetings were held with the state governments, importers, millers and organized retail chains to cooperate towards ensuring affordability of the pulses for the consumers.

The Department had also deputed 12 senior officers to visit various places in the States of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu to take stock of ground reality.