New Delhi: The Masur Dal (lentil) stock has to be mandatorily disclosed on the portal every Friday with immediate effect by all stakeholders, and the Department of Consumer Affairs today issued an advisory in this regard.
All the stakeholders would be mandatorily required to disclose their Masur stock on the stock disclosure portal (https://fcainfoweb.nic.in/psp) managed by the department every Friday.
Any undisclosed stock if found, will be considered as hoarding and suitable action under the Essential Commodities Act would be initiated, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, stated.
Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, during the weekly price review meeting today, instructed the department to broad-based the lentil buffer procurement. The objective is to procure available stocks at prices around the Minimum Support Price (MSP). This came at a time when NAFED and NCCF had to suspend their tenders to purchase imported lentils due to exorbitantly high bids received from few suppliers amid hints of cartelization.
Singh stated that at the time when lentil import flow increases from Canada and ‘Tur’ imports from African countries, few players are trying to manipulate the market against the interest of the consumers and the nation.” The government is watching the developments very closely and will initiate stringent measures to get the stock released into the market so that the availability of all pulses at reasonable prices in the festival season is ensured,” he said. He further added that judiciously balancing the interest of the farmers vis-à-vis the consumers is paramount and that the Department “will not hesitate to initiate stern action against those trying to hurt the interest of Indian consumers and farmers in an unscrupulous manner”.
– global bihari bureau
