The draft Bill will now be sent to president Pranab Mukherjee through the union ministry of home affairs for presidential assent.
For arresting escalating pulses prices, especially those of tur dal, the state government will enact a Pulses Price Control Act 2016. The state cabinet gave its nod for the draft Bill of the Act on Tuesday. Maharashtra is the first state to bring in such a law to control prices of pulses.
The draft Bill will now be sent to president Pranab Mukherjee through the union ministry of home affairs for presidential assent. After that, the state will be able to bring in the Bill before the ensuing monsoon session or can also come out with a notification as and when required. The state has been under fire for rising tur dal prices, with the Opposition alleging that it's working to safeguard the interests of the traders.
Minister for civil supplies Girish Bapat, while addressing a press conference, said the state would be able to decide the maximum rate for the pulses through provisions of law for a maximum period of six months. He added that the Act is supplementary to the existing essential commodities' Act of 1955 section 3 C, while also saying that the provisions could be evoked as and when required so that artificial scarcity leading to price rise is not engineered by vested interests.
Bapat made it clear that the Act would not provide for uniform prices all over the state and that it would differ depending on the local transport and other conditions. The cost at which a trader has purchased, milling charges, transport, and profit for the trader would be considered while deciding the prices.
The minister also said 30% of the domestic need is fulfilled by production within the country but for the rest, the country will have to rely on imports. He added that since there is less production due to successive drought years, fluctuation is witnessed in prices depending on international pricing as well as international traders taking advantage of the situation.
Bapat said that because India is the biggest consumer of tur dal and the fact that it is not eaten elsewhere in such a huge quantity, by controlling prices within the country, traders too would have to fall in line.
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