Blame it on the AAP government in Delhi for unabated rise in price of pulses and other essential commodities. The Kejriwal government ignored repeated alerts by Nafed to stock sufficient quantity of pulses and other eatables so as to meet the requirement in case of short supply. And all this happened at a time the Delhi government faced criticism for not procuring onions that resulted in cost escalation.

An RTI reply by the food and supplies department of Delhi government said it has not purchased pulses or any other grain and eatable products.

Also read: The big Indian onion drama: Aam aadmi in the fray

The Nafed, which is a central government agency, wrote four letters to Delhi government from April to June but the government chose to ignore them. "Nafed offered arhar dal at Rs 54 per kg and chana dal at Rs 38 per kg. Despite four requests, the AAP government did not buzz. As a result Delhiites are forced to buy arhar dal at Rs 150 per kg and chana dal at Rs 70 to Rs 80 a kilo," said Nafed Director Ashok Thakur. The letters, copies of which are in possession of Mail Today, were written on April 8, May 1, June 5 and June 30. However, there was no reply from the Delhi Government.

"Your department (food and supplies) had initially shown interest in purchase of arhar and chana dal available with Nafed in the states of Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The tentative cost of the purchase was also informed to the Delhi government but since then there has been no response. On directions of the central government, Nafed has restarted the sale of pulses from June 29," read one of the letters written to Delhi government. "Nafed is awaiting response from the Delhi government for purchase of pulses and other whole grains. Considering the present situation of pulses in the country, the Delhi government may assess its requirement as convey it to Nafed for purchase of commodities," said another letter dated June 5.

Thakur alleged that non-procurement of commodities by the government resulted in hoarding by traders and black marketers as a result of which price of grains skyrocketed. "No purchase of pulses has been done by the Delhi government. No other grain and other etable products were purchased by the food and supply department," the Food and Supplies department said in the RTI reply.