NEW DELHI: The government has asked its agencies to offload the huge Stock of Pulses at present wholesale rate in the open market in its bid to prevent these from getting wasted and becoming unfit for human consumption. Sources said the sale price of arhar, which has maximum share in the 1.9 million tonnes buffer stock, is likely to be around Rs 40 per kg while government had procured the same at Rs 50-55 per kg.

The financial loss will be borne by the Centre from its Price Stabilisation Fund, which was set up for market intervention to stabilise prices in case of abnormal increase.

TOI has learnt that the government has asked two central procurement agencies – Nafed and Food Corporation of India (FCI) – to assess the prevailing prices of pulses in mandis within 100 km radius of the spot where the stocks have been kept. “These agencies will arrive at an average price across the mandis and that will be the minimum price for auctioning the pulses. The prices will vary from place to place since the mandi prices are different in different states,” said an official.

Sources said Nafed and FCI will go for open market sale in tranches and will continue to give pulses to states which raise a demand. They added that offering dal at present wholesale rate will be attractive for states which sell them through their public distribution system.

Karnataka is keen to take one lakh tonne pulses for a year and Tamil Nadu has also shown interest in procuring them from the central buffer.

The arrival of kharif crops — arhar, urad and moong — for the current year (2017-18) is likely to begin by next month. The government needs to sell the stocks at the earliest. Since the beginning of buffer stock policy, only 1.32 lakh tonnes of pulses have been sold in the market.