Food and Public Distribution Minister Ram Vilas Paswan has said prices of all essential commodities other than pulses are under control. Replying to a short duration discussion in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Paswan said, government has taken several steps to contain rising prices of pulses. <br/><br/>He said, there is a gap of 76 lakh tonne in demand and supply of pulses, which is being met through imports. He said private traders have imported nearly 58 lakh tonne of pulses this year. <br/><br/>Besides the government has created a buffer stock of 20 lakh tonne of pulses to meet the shortfall. He asked the states to take action against hoarders and also lift pulses from the central stock. The Minister said, the states can purchase tur at 66 rupees per kilogram and urad 82 rupees for distribution. <br/><br/>On the rising price of onions, potatoes and tomatoes, the Minister said, these are seasonal trends. <br/><br/>Earlier, initiating the discussion in Rajya Sabha Derek O'Brien of the Trinamool Congress accused the government of not passing the benefit of the steep fall in the prices of crude oil to the common man. <br/><br/>Rajani Patil of the Congress said the prices of different variety of pulses have sky-rocketed and the government has not been able to contain them. <br/><br/>Prabhat Jha of the BJP said the government is giving top priority to controlling the prices of essential commodities. He urged the opposition not to politicize it.<br/><br/>Naresh Agarwal of Samajwadi Party suggested that states providing subsidized food to the poor people, should be suitably compensated by the Centre. <br/><br/>The opposition members charged the NDA government with failure to contain the prices of essential commodities. tent