TN govt to ban excess stocking of wheat, pulses, import toor dal

Chennai, Apr 19 (UNI) The Tamil Nadu government today decided to ban excess stocking of wheat and pulses, and directly import toor dal and palm oil, in a bid to curb the rise in prices of essential commodities.

A high level meeting, chaired by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi at the Secretariat here this morning, decided to fix ceilings in the stock positions of wheat and pulses for wholesale and retail traders in the state.

The government decided to constitute special teams to check hoardings of essentials and prevent smuggling of these items to neighbouring states, an official release here said.

As the state faced a scarcity in pulses like toor dhal and palm oil, the government has decided to directly import pulses from Myanmar and palm oil from Malaysia, it said.

For this purpose, a team comprising Food supplies Commissioner and Civil Supplies Corporation Managing Director would visit Barma and Malaysia on April 24, the release said.

The government also decided to directly purchase wheat from states like Punjab and distribute it through Public Distribution System (PDS) without any problem. It has also been decided to continue the special scheme, under which rava and maida were being distributed to ration card holders.

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