Sudden spurt in prices of pulses

Nellore: The prices of pulses have witnessed a sudden spurt in Nellore as there was no control over prices of essential commodities. Now, pulses such as red gram, black gram and green gram, people use regularly, are being sold at Rs 150 per kg and other varieties are around Rs 200 a kilo.
During the months of September and October 2015 when pulses were being sold at Rs 200, the State government sold essential commodities at subsidised rate. Now, the same situation is prevailing in this month as the consumers are finding it difficult to purchase pulses with skyrocketing of prices.
Now, red gram is in between Rs 150 to 160 per kg, black gram is hovering at Rs 180 a kilo and green gram has touched Rs 120 per kg. To bring down the prices of pulses in open markets, the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments have distributed one kg of Toor dal at a highly subsidised rate of Rs 50 a kilo through ration shops, while Tamil Nadu sold urad and Canadian lentils at Rs 30 per kg to consumers in last October.
Officials said prices of pulses have shot up across the country due to a shortfall in domestic output by two million tonnes in 2014-15 due to scanty rainfall. There was also global shortage of lentils. Nearly 75,000 tonnes of pulses were seized from hoarders in raids across 13 states in last quarter of 2015 as part of the measures to control retail prices.
As per the Consumer Affairs Ministry's data, urad dal was selling at Rs 190 per kg, moong dal at Rs 130 a kilo during October and November 2015. The same situation is now prevailing in the Nellore district within six months. Retailers are saying there was a sudden spurt in prices of pulses within one month by Rs 10-20 per kg. They failed to explain the reason for sudden rise in prices and said the new crop has not reached the stores till now.
The prices are more worrying in retail outlets of chain stores where the prices have not come down from October. They temporarily decreased prices to some extent and again displaying prices which are not reachable to common people. Besides pulses, others commodities are also giving nightmarish experience to the consumers. Red Chillies are being sold at Rs 170 a kg, Tamarind at Rs 150 a kilo and groundnut seeds at Rs 110 per kg. Now, black gram is also being sold at Rs 140 per kilo in ration shops. When contacted, District Supply Officer C Dharma Reddy said they were busy with paddy procurement and would take appropriate steps within a couple of days. He admitted that the prices are abnormal and have to be controlled through stringent measures.