Shortage of rice will continue to plague Himachal Pradesh in the next fiscal as the Centre will release only 7,100 tonne of rice per month, far below the requirement of the state. As a result, the state government will have to distribute less than the promised quota of 10 kg per month to poor families.
“This is despite the state government urging the Centre to raise the quota of rice,” said Ramesh Dhawala, the state food and consumer affairs minister.
“Earlier, each ration card holder got 20 kg of rice per month. This has come down to 7 kg, because of which poor families have to buy expensive rice from market,” he said. “If we are to distribute 10 kg to each family the requirement is over 10,000 tonne,” he said.
The Centre had rationalised the distribution system and brought down the quota of rice alleging the state government had a bloated number of ration cardholders.
According to the latest figures, currently there are 993,425 above poverty line ration cardholders in Himachal. Until recently, the hill state received a quota of over 14,000 tonne.
However, the Centre has raised the quota of wheat for the state.
