Date:01/09/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/09/01/stories/2006090106531200.htm

National

Order issued on stock-holding limits of wheat and pulses

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Even as the Cabinet Committee on Prices met here on Thursday to review the availability and prices of essential commodities, the Central Government issued an order imposing stock-holding limits for wheat and pulses for six months under the "Removal of (Licensing Requirements, Stock Limits and Movement Restrictions) on Specified Foodstuffs (Amendment) Order, 2006".

There was no official word on the CCP meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Sources, however, indicated that the meeting discussed the price situation as also the arrivals of wheat and pulses. It reviewed the availability of essential commodities especially after the decision to import an additional 20 lakh tonnes of wheat. The demand of private trade for doing away with the five per cent duty on wheat imports was also discussed.

Meanwhile, sources said the stock-holding order for wheat and pulses would not affect the transportation, distribution or disposal of wheat and pulses (whole or split) to places outside the State, or their imports.

The order says that the Central and State governments may direct importers to declare the receipts of stocks of wheat and pulses and the stocks retained by them.