State failed to control tur dal price: CAG

State failed to control tur dal price: CAG

Mumbai: The State government failed to lift the packaged tur dal sold in the open market which resulted in sky-high prices, in 2015-16. 

A report of Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on economic sector pointed out the failure of the State government, despite Centre’s allocation of tur at subsidised rates. The report was tabled in the state assembly on Wednesday.

The report also observed that the decision of the State government of not availing the benefit of subsidies of tur allocated by Government of India and instead purchasing tur dal locally through NCDEX at higher rates resulted in the avoidable extra expenditure of Rs 2 crore. The State government has suffered a loss of Rs 1.78 crore on account of unsold stocks of tur dal rendered unfit for human consumption.

In 2014 and 2015, there was a sudden rise in the prices of pulses especially tur dal, due to drought conditions consecutively in 2014 and 2015. The monthly average retail price of the tur dal in the market had increased from Rs 82 per kg (April 2015) to Rs 129 per kg (August 2016).

The report observed that government took about three months time for its lifting, milling, packaging and transportation to the private agencies and sold the tur dal in the open market only in August 2016. The decision of purchasing 7,008 tones of tur dal through NCDEX at an average rate of 

Rs 102.12 per kg and its distribution to the AAY and BPL card holders through TPDS was not prudent since they did not even lift 3,575.473 tonnes of tur released by the Centre at subsidised rates of Rs 66 per kg, which cost Rs two crore to the State exchequer, the report stated.

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