Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government set up a special committee to monitor price rise Saturday, even as prices of some pulses went up significantly in the last 24 hours and the price of cauliflower more than doubled.

The chief secretary will head the special committee. Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi Saturday called an emergency meeting of ministers and officials to review price rise in the state.

At the meeting, the DMK government decided to introduce a ceiling for wholesale and retail stocking of rice, wheat and pulses. The government fixed 100 tonnes as the ceiling for wheat and 250 tonnes for pulses for wholesale stockists. Retailers can keep stock of 3.125 tonnes of wheat and 6.25 tonnes of pulses, a government statement said.

The state government will also buy wheat directly from the Punjab government.  Tamil Nadu civil supplies department officials are being sent to Myanmar and Malaysia next week to explore the possibility of direct import of pulses and palm oil from these countries. The government is also mulling import of cereals from Canada, it said.

In Chennai Saturday, wholesale prices for a quintal of Thoor dal went up to Rs.4,350 from Friday's Rs.4,250. Urad dal was selling at Rs.3,650, Moong dal at Rs.3,600, Gram at Rs.2,900, sugar at Rs.1,540, wheat at Rs.1,500, flour (90 kg) at Rs.1,450 and sooji (90 kg) at Rs.1,550 at the wholesale market Saturday. The wholesale rate for cauliflower was around Rs.200 for 20 kg compared to the usual rate of about Rs.90-100.

In the wholesale market, per kilo rates of other vegetables Saturday were aubergine Rs.5, cucumber Rs.5, field beans Rs.20, snake gourd Rs.7, yam Rs.7, drumstick Rs.8, bitter gourd Rs.10, cluster beans Rs.10, cabbage Rs.4, carrot Rs.20, green chillies Rs.8, green pepper Rs.20, ginger Rs.32, beans Rs.25, beetroot Rs.6, potato Rs.10, large onions Rs.10, small onions Rs.14, lady's finger Rs.12, hybrid tomato Rs.24, local tomato Rs.16 and banana (a bunch of 100) Rs.200.

 

Source : IANS