Taking note of spiraling prices of pulses in the State, the department of food and civil supply is facilitating a group of farmers, based in Udham Singh Nagar, to sell the Masur variety to the customers at affordable rates through the shops under Public Distribution System.
Dehradun food and civil supply officer PS Pangti said on Friday that the customers are being given upto two kgs of Masar pulse at Rs 75 per kg whose market price varies from Rs 85 to Rs 90 per kg. Masur pulses are provided at 30 PDS shops across Dehradun city, 25 PDP shops across Rishikesh and 25 PDS across Vikasanagar, he said.
Around two quintals of Masur pulse has been kept in reserve and the customers can purchase it from their neighbourhood PDS shops, he said.
In other districts too, Masur pulse is being sold at the above-mentioned rate, Pangti said, adding that a group of farmers had provided chane ki dal at PDS shops around a month ago.
Raipur resident Urmila, who had purchased pulse from the PDS shop, said that the quality of Masur pulse was better as compared to that available in the markets. She said they had excluded pulse from their daily menu because of its spiraling prices.
She further said that three kgs of pulse should be provided to each card holders, especially those who have a big family.
Rashmi, resident of Vani Vihar, said that it is a good initiative on the part of the food and supply department to facilitate the group of farmers to sell Musar pulse to PDS shops to check the price.
She said that the price of half a kg chicken is less than a kg of most of the pulses.
A Raipur -based fair price shop dealer said that the department is providing them with just two quintals of pulse. “It is very difficult to distribute available Musar pulse among large number of ration card holders. The department should provide more quantity to help us distribute among the card holders,” he added.