Centre constitutes committee to monitor tur stocks

New Delhi [India], March 27 : The central government has constituted a committee for monitoring tur stock held by importers, millers, stockists, and traders in close coordination with the state governments.

The decision comes on the backdrop of reports of market players not releasing stocks despite the "regular arrival of imports in good quantities", according to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.

Additional Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, Nidhi Khare will head the committee.

The government said it is also closely watching the stock position of other pulses in the domestic market to take necessary pre-emptive measures in the event of an unwarranted price rise in the coming months, the release said.

It may be recalled that the government had issued an advisory to the states and UTs on August 12, 2022, to enforce stock disclosure for tur.

Further, in order to facilitate seamless import, the government had removed the 10 per cent duty applicable for tur imports from non-Least Developed Countries (LDC) as such duty creates "procedural hurdles" even for zero-duty imports from the LDCs.

India is a large consumer of pulses and it meets a portion of its consumption needs through imports. Besides tur, India largely consumes chana, masur, urad, and kabuli chana.