Steep rise in Sugar price
SHILLONG: Residents of Shillong are now totally dependent on the mercy of retail shopkeepers for sugar and people are bound to pay a hefty amount of Rs 38-40 sugar for per Kg of the essential item.
An official of the State Government on Sunday said that the supply was stopped from the Government of India and it is learnt that the Union Government is mulling to change the pattern of sugar distribution for which the supply has been stopped.
Officials on the request of anonymity said that the Department of Food Civil Supplies and Consumers Affairs has called for a tender for the supply of sugar in the state.
As per the tender, State Government needs tenders from bonafide sugar manufacturers for supply of ISS grade sugar for a quantity of 1,704 metric tonnes of sugar per month for the eleven districts of the State.
The closing date for submission of bid is December 10.
However, till the time Government completes the procedure of tendering, poor people who cannot afford to buy sugar from the open market are bound to bear the brunt of buying sugar at Rs 38-40 per Kilogram.
Though many people buy their sugars from the open market, yet there is a large chunk of poor people who buy sugar from the Public Distribution System (PDS) at a subsidized rate.
“We know we are paying much more but we have no other option as there is no sugar in the fair price shops,” a resident of Shillong said while hoping that Government would soon take measures to distribute sugar from the PDS.