Food and Public Distribution Ministry on Tuesday increased the limit on the import of arhar (pigeon pea) from current two lakh tonnes to four lakh tonnes to keep the retails prices in control, which touched Rs 100 per kg.

It has also allowed selling two lakh tones of arhar from its buffer stock.

On June 4, the government had decided to allow imports of two lakh tonnes of arhar.

The decisions on Tuesday were taken in a joint meeting of Food Ministry, Commerce Ministry and Agriculture Ministry.

Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said the government would not tolerate any attempt at hoarding.

In a series of tweets, Paswan said the government had a buffer stock of 11.53 lakh tonnes besides storage of 27.32 lakh tonnes with National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation.

He said 1.75 lakh tonnes of arhar was also to be imported from Mozambique under G2G agreement.