Cheaper tur dal in Mumbai only after festival season

MUMBAI: Those who visited retail outlets to buy tur dal at Rs 100-120 per kg, as promised by the government, had to return disappointed on Wednesday. Traders' representatives said the situation will improve by Monday, but the festival season would be largely over by then.

Limited stocks of subsidized dal have hit shop shelves, casting doubts on how effective chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and food & civil supplies minister Girish Bapat have been in reining in traders who have pushed up prices of the kitchen staple to as high as Rs 200 a kg in retail.

A high-ranking bureaucrat and Federation of Associations of Maharashtra president Mohan Gurnani had told TOI on Tuesday that tur dal was available at Rs 100 kg at Big Bazaar, Reliance and D'Mart outlets. But many consumers told TOI that it was not available at those outlets at that price. Many were not sure which outlets of the chain stocked the cheaper dal.

Gurnani said 40-50 retail chain outlets were supplied 10 truckloads of cheaper dal but stocks ran out very fast on high demand. He attributed the supply shortage to the "two-three days" needed to process raw tur before it can be retailed.

"We expect to double supply after the festival by Monday, to cater to demand through almost 150 retail chain outlets," said Gurnani.

He and Indian Pulses and Grains Association chief officer Pradeep Ghorpade also promised to publish a list of retailers who will sell the dal for Rs 100 per kg.

Alarmed by spiralling prices of pulses, the Union government had told state governments to rein in erring traders. The state food & civil supplies department had seized pulses worth Rs 250 crore from hoarders. It was expected that immediate steps would be taken for immediate disposal of seized pulses but more than a month later, no stringent measures have been taken.

A senior BJP minister admitted that it was the failure of the state government, particularly Bapat, to take on erring traders. "Bapat met wholesalers and retailers. In fact, they promised to supply tur dal at Rs 100 per kg, but 15 days later, there is no respite. It appears traders have not taken Bapat's warning seriously. The CM should have stepped in but he too is busy with politics. Thus, there was no relief for the aam admi,'' the BJP minister said.

At the APMC market in Vashi, the cheaper dal was not in stock. A trader said, "I have not seen cheaper dal yet, it's a gimmick."

"The government and traders are misleading consumers even during the festival," said Sudhanshu Das, a consumer.

(With inputs by BB Nayak and Chittaranjan Tembekar)