Union Minister Joshi flags off vans for sale of Chana Dal at Rs 70 a kg in Delhi

New Delhi, Oct 23 (IANS) Retail sale of Chana Dal and Chana Whole in Delhi-NCR at Rs 70 per kg and Rs 58 per kg, respectively, was launched by Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday.

The sale through mobile vans, under Bharat Chana Dal Phase – II, is aimed at supplying essential food items at affordable prices during the festive season.

Flagging off the mobile vans of the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation (NCCF), Nafed, and Kendriya Bhandar, Joshi said, “The initiative is an affirmation of the Government of India’s commitment to ensuring the availability of essential food to the consumers at affordable prices.”

“Direct interventions through the retail sale of basic food items such as rice, atta, dals and onion have also helped in maintaining stable price regime,” he said.

Apart from Chana, the government has also expanded the Bharat brand to Moong and Masur Dals. The Bharat Moong Dal is being sold at a retail price of Rs 107 per kg, Bharat Moong Sabut at Rs 93 per kg and Bharat Masur Dal at Rs 89 per kg, a statement said.

For sale of affordable vegetables, the government has procured 4.7 lakh tonnes onions from the rabi crop for price stabilisation buffer through NCCF and Nafed.

The government started the disposal of onions from the buffer from September 5 and till date, 1.15 lakh tonnes have been sold.

NCCF has sold onions in 77 centres across 21 States and Nafed in 43 centres in 16 States. To augment the pace of distribution, bulk transportation of onions by rail rakes has been adopted for the first time, said the statement.

NCCF transported 1,600 MT (42 BCN wagons, approximately 53 trucks) by the Kanda Express from Nashik which arrived at Delhi on October 20. Nafed also arranged the transportation of 800-840 MT of onions to Chennai by rail rake. The rail rake to Chennai left Nashik on October 20, the statement said.