Mysuru Grain Merchants Association has decided to sell pulses at subsidised prices from November 5 until Deepavali in certain retail shops in all the four assembly constituencies in Mysuru city.
Apart from this, pulses would be sold to people at concessional rates at a shop in the APMC yard and Hale Santhepet main road.
R. Anand, secretary of the association and Sudhakar Shetty, president of the Chamber of Commerce, said that toor dal, urad dal, chana dal and green gram would be sold at concessional rates till the existing stock in all the grain merchant shops is exhausted or until Deepavali, whichever is sooner.
Traders would sustain losses owing to the sale of pulses at subsidised rates. All the traders in Mysuru city would bear the losses equally, Mr. Anand said.
District in-charge Minister V. Srinivas Prasad recently asked the traders to bring down the prices of pulses and enable people to celebrate Deepavali in all grandeur.
Mr. Anand said the grain merchants were not responsible for the steep hike in the prices of pulses. He said the key reasons for the price hike were the failure of the government to import pulses, and the lack of rainfall in places where pulses are cultivated.
To a question, he said the merchants would stop selling pulses after the present stock was exhausted, in protest against “harassment” by the Food and Civil Supplies Department. The grain merchants would not start selling the pulses until the district administration issues food licenses to all the 900 traders in Mysuru city and assures them that the department would not interfere unnecessarily in their business.

Source : The Hindu