Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi   

Huge demand for toor dhal through PDS

— Photo: M. Moorthy

‘BEYOND Reach’: A shopkeeper packing red gram at her shop in Tiruchi.

TIRUCHI: There has been a sharp spurt in the demand for the toor dhal (thuvaram paruppu) supplied through the Public Distribution System (PDS) in the district consequent to a steep rise in the price of the commodity in the open market.

Following a huge demand from ration card holders, the district administration has sought an additional allocation of 120 tonnes for the district for this month, over and above the 180 tonnes already supplied.

Confirming the move, Collector, T.Soundiah said the district administration has sought the additional allocation of the dhal, supplied under the special PDS scheme, from the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation.

“There has been a big demand for the commodity from card holders in the district,” Mr.Soundiah told The Hindu.

With nearly seven lakh card holders in the district, officials hope that at least half a kilo of the dhal could be supplied to at least five lakh active card holders in the district if the additional allocation was made.

They also expect that an additional allocation could serve as an effective market intervention to stabilise the price in the open market.

Toor dhal is supplied at Rs.32 a kilo under the special PDS against the open market price of nearly Rs.90 to 95 a kilo.

The PDS off-take of dhal witnessed a sharp rise though the public response to the supply of the commodity in the district was rather lukewarm. When the supply was introduced, the off take was just about 40 tonnes but now it has already gone up to 200-220 tonnes a month, according to officials. Long queues were being witnessed in many ration shops in the city and even many middle income group families were opting to purchase the dhal from the PDS. Stocks in many ration shops were exhausted quickly over the past week. “The price of the dhal in the open market is increasingly becoming unaffordable to us. So I decided to buy the dhal from the PDS,” observed G.Chithra, a housewife of K.K.Nagar in the city.

Private traders say that the price of the dhal in the wholesale market has been fluctuating wildly and there has been steady increase in the price in the retail market.

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