AIZAWL: Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution K V Thomas on Thursday assured to fulfil Mizoram’s request for additional quota of rice at lower cost.
‘We have been allocating to Mizoram an additional 8,000 tonnes of rice per month, at the request of the state government, at economic cost at the rate of Rs 21-22 per kilogram. Now the state government’s request is that we supply the rice at APL rate of Rs 11-12 instead of the economic cost which we will take as positive decision as possible,’ he told reporters here before he left for New Delhi after one night stay.
As the minimal rice production of Mizoram was far from meeting the state’s requirement, the Central Government has been supplying two lakh tonnes of rice to Mizoram per year, against the actual entitlement of 91,644 tonnes of rice as per universal allocation of 35 kg per family per month.
In response to the state government’s request, the Union Minister also agreed to allocate 3,000 tonnes of rice at OMSS price for APL families and 5,000 tonnes of rice at BPL prices for BPL families.
Regarding the state’s request for allocation of rice for additional beneficiaries under the Annapurna Scheme, Mr Thomas said since the said scheme was under the ministry of rural development, the request was being considered in consultation with the ministry.The Union Minister also announced that the Central Government has sanctioned Rs 9.60 crore for construction of 17 godowns in Mizoram with a total capacity of 9,500 metric tonnes of rice. He also said the public distribution system in Mizoram would be computerised soon. (UNI)
