Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the government is taking steps to control inflation and as part of the measures tomatoes are being imported from Nepal to meet the demand and check prices.
"Lot of steps have been taken to contain inflation. Group of Ministers has been taking timely steps to control prices which are hitting common people," Sitharman said while participating in a debate on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha.
Sitharaman said Tur dal is being imported from Mozambique, Urad dal will be imported from Myanmar, while around three lakh tonnes of onions have been procured to create a buffer stock.
She said tomatoes are being procured from Maharashtra and Karnataka, and distributed in Delhi-NCR, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Rajasthan through the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) and other cooperative societies.
National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Ltd. (NCCF) has distributed 8.84 lakh kg of tomatoes in these states.
"This will continue, and be increased," she said, adding that the wholesale prices of tomatoes in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are coming down.
"We have allowed imports from Nepal by removing import restrictions. The first lot will reach Varanasi, Kanpur, Lucknow this week," she said.
NCCF is also planning a mega sale of tomatoes in Delhi NCR region at a subsidized rate of Rs 70 per kg this weekend, the minister said adding that more such steps will be taken.