Subsidised wheat flour supply dips

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, April 20

There is an acute shortage of wheat flour at the fair price shops and cooperative societies that supply subsidised foodgrains under the Centre’s Public Distribution System (PDS).

Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that the fair price shops and cooperative societies were not receiving wheat flour regularly for the past one month. The fair price shops further supply wheat flour on subsidised rates to consumers.

Besides, wheat flour is given free of cost to the poorest of the poor under a scheme launched by the Central government.

There is complete uncertainty as salespersons are unable to give the exact timeframe for the resumption of the supplies.

At present, under the Central government’s programme, consumers are getting wheat flour at Rs 10 per kg compared to Rs 30 a kg in the open market.

A senior official of state Food and Civil Supplies Department said the supply of wheat flour would become normal within a week. There were some technical issues with a few shops, which had been resolved, he added.