Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare officials conducted raids on pulses godowns at various places across the State on Sunday and seized about 90 tonnes of hoarded pulses.
With this, the total seizure of illegally-stocked pulses in the State rose to 178 tonnes so far. Sources said simultaneous raids were conducted at Baleswar, Bhubaneswar, Puri and Sambalpur.
During the raids, maximum 51 tonnes of lentil and arhar dals were seized from a retired teacher’s house in Bhubaneswar followed by 21 tonnes from a trader in Chandanpur in Puri district.
Similarly, the officials located 17.6 tonnes of hoarded pulses from the Radhakrushna Store in the Motoganj area at Baleswar.
In Sambalpur, officials conducted raids at 14 godowns and two dal processing units.
Earlier, the department had already seized about 88 tonnes of pulses after conducting raids at mills and warehouses at seven places in the State.
The State Government has issued an order that all dal sellers must display lists of dal prices in front of their shops.
Meanwhile, the Central Government said nearly 74,846 tonnes of pulses have so far been seized from hoarders during raids across 13 States as the Government tries to stave off intense political pressure with prices surging over Rs200 a kg.
The Centre has also asked the States to hold discussions with dal millers, wholesalers and retailers to make pulses available at reasonable prices.