The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Global tenders called again for red gram

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Friday, Jul 24, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Global tenders called again for red gram

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: The State government will call for global tenders a second time to purchase toor dal (red gram) and flood the local market with the commodity in order to bring down its price.

The first notification issued recently inviting tenders failed to evoke a response.

Announcing this at a media conference here on Thursday, Civil Supplies Minister Jupalli Krishna Rao said the government was forced to call for tenders a second time as there was a severe shortage of red gram, causing steep hike in its price. Red gram is cultivated in Myanmar and certain African countries, apart from India and Bangladesh.

He said red gram was in short supply all over India. The only solution to this was to bring more area under cultivation of this crop. As steps were taken towards this end, the situation is expected to improve when the new crop comes in. The Minister reiterated his advice to people of the State to opt for coarse rice variety in place of fine and polished variety like Sona Masoori, as there are hardly any nutrients in polished rice. In converting coarse rice into fine variety, the millers have to remove 14 layers, including husk and vitamins therein, he said.

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Andhra Pradesh