Organic wheat flour not to be sold in Himachal's fair price shops

The Department of Food and Civil Supplies has withdrawn the order to sell organic wheat flour in the fair price shops across the state. However, the fair price shops have been told to continue to selling organic porridge. The decision has been revoked after the fair price shop owners complained that there was little demand for these products and they would lose money if forced to sell these commodities.

“The organic wheat flour is priced at Rs 100 per kg and porridge at Rs 115 per kg. Consumers are finding these products quite expensive and there’s hardly any demand. If the depot owners are forced to sell it, they will lose money,” said Ashok Kavi, president, state depot operators committee.

Selling the organic flour and porridge in fair price shops was part of the government scheme under which it is buying naturally-grown wheat from the farmers at a MSP of Rs 60. The idea behind making these organic products available at fair price shops was to provide an option of buying quality products alongside subsidized items to the consumers. With depot owners claiming that there’s little demand for these products on account high prices, the scheme has hit a roadblock. As per the orders issued by the Department of Food and Civil Supplies, the sale of organic flour will now be managed by the Department of Agriculture.

The Department of Food and Civil Supplies have, however, asked each fair price shop to lift at least 5kg porridge from wholesale centres of State Civil Supplies Corporation next month and make it available to the consumers.

While welcoming rollback of the decision to sell organic wheat flour, Kavi demanded that porridge, too, should not be sent to fair price shops. “There’s little demand for porridge as well as it is quite expensive at Rs 115 per kg. The department should take away along with organic flour from the fair price shops,” said Kavi.