Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Secretary Madhusudan Padhi on Wednesday directed all district Collectors to hold meetings with traders and ensure availability of dals at the best possible minimum prices in the open market.
In a letter, Padhi informed that prices of different dals like Arhar, Biri, Mung, Bunt and Masur are in rising trend in the market. The trend is being driven by market prices of producing States like Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh which have faced a decline of 40 per cent in production due to unseasonal rains. While supply has reduced, unscrupulous traders might resort to high profiteering and sell these essential commodities at exorbitant prices. The rising price may not only put huge financial burden on public but gives rise to public discontentment, he observed.
He advised the Collectors to convene meeting of the traders of their respective districts and ensure availability of dals to the consumers with reasonable margin over cost, transport and taxes.
He also asked them to instruct the Civil Supplies and Market Intelligence field functionaries to inspect both the wholesale and retail business premises to track the price line till normal situation restores.
“If necessary, the unscrupulous traders may be booked under the Essential Commodities Act and on grounds of stock holding limit order violations,” Padhi said.