SHILLONG, APR 2: The state government has accorded Rs 26.38 crore for procuring of 1.17 lakh quintals of food grain under the open market sales scheme to address the shortage in the open market.
Informing this here on Thursday, Minister in-charge food civil supplies & consumer affairs James K Sangma told reporters that one of the biggest challenges was the disruption to the supply of essential food items in the targeted public distribution system (TPDS) under the NFSA and the open market as well.
He said some districts were still facing shortage of essential food items in the open market causing hardship to the people adding this shortage is due to the panic buying caused by the announcement of the nationwide lockdown, which is an attempt to control the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Sangma said to stabilize the open market procurement of rice and other essential food items, the DCs were given the freedom to issue authorization letters and curfew passes to retail shops to procure their food grain stock and other items from Assam.
Stating that this helped in addressing the shortage in the open market to a large extent, the minister however said that the situation demands that more has to be done.
“That is why the state government has also accorded Rs 26,38,75,500 for a quantity of 1,17,278 quintals for 2 months under the open market sales scheme (domestic) scheme to be procured from the Food Corporation of India (FCI),” he announced.
Sangma said that the rice lifted from the FCI godowns would be undertaken by all deputy commissioners and made available to the open market.
“We are coordinating with the FCI with regards to the location from where government of Meghalaya can lift this food grain,” he added.
The minister further informed that the state has also taken up with NAFED under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution, Govt of India for the allocation of 5,553.64 quintals of pulses (specifically Masoor Dal) for distribution amongst TPDS beneficiaries.
The minister also held a video conferencing session with all the deputy commissioners on Wednesday as part of the continuing effort to constantly monitor the situation.
He said a thorough situation assessment vis-à-vis the ground situation with regards to the availability of essential food items in the respective districts and the challenges still being faced by the DCs was also made.
“The TPDS is more or less streamlined along with the advance lifting of the April stock which is presently at the disposal of the districts. The advance stock for May and June are also being lifted shortly which should ensure that beneficiaries under the TPDS should not face any problems henceforth,” Sangma said while adding however, a few fair price shops (FPSs) have still not received their stock, which is being addressed on a priority basis.
He further informed that the DCs were also informed about the status of 2 other schemes which were announced recently by the Govt of India.
The minister said under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, each NFSA beneficiary would be getting an additional 5 kg of rice per beneficiary for free for 3 months for the months of April, May and June while the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana under which each beneficiary would get 1 free gas cylinder for 3 months starting from April.
By Our Reporter
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