Centre to release 3.65 lakh tn subsidised wheat for states

The government today announced that it would release 3.65 lakh tonne of subsidised wheat to states for distribution to consumers on no-profit-no-loss basis.

This is part of the measures being taken to check inflation which had risen to 6.2 per cent. An announcement by the food ministry said this wheat would be released under the open market sale scheme (domestic) in February and March at Rs 986.06 a quintal.

The Food Corporation of India would deliver grains to state governments for further distribution to consumers through state-level institutions or corporations or agencies, whose work could be directly supervised by the government. These agencies would be allowed to add only reasonable handling and transportation costs to FCI's sale price.

Those state governments which wanted to distribute atta, instead of whole grains, would be allowed to charge reasonable conversion costs, the ministry's note said.

The maximum quantity of wheat has been allocated to Maharashtra and Karnataka both of which get 60,000 tonne each. Delhi, a major consumption centre, has been allotted 30,000 tonne of wheat for distribution in the current and the next month.