1.42 cr Punjab beneficiaries to get subsidised flour in 3 months

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, April 9

Punjab’s 1.42 crore beneficiaries under the National Food Safety Act, 2013, will now get ‘atta’ (wheat flour), not wheat, at subsidised rates. The change will be effective from the time the doorstep delivery of ration begins in the state.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has invited expressions of interest from flour mills across the state for grinding of wheat and packing it. The government has invited offers till April 15 from flour mills having a minimum grinding capacity of 100 MT.

Also, instead of the quarterly distribution of flour to the beneficiaries, the government will distribute it on a monthly basis. Official sources said the distribution of flour, instead of wheat, will start within three months. The flour mills to be contracted for the work will package the flour in 5 kg packs. The government is looking at delivering the flour to the doorstep, using the delivery partners of e-commerce companies. On March 28, CM Bhagwant Mann had announced his government’s decision to deliver the ration to the doorstep of beneficiaries. As of now, wheat is distributed from ration depots in the state, which use electronic point of sale (PoS) machines for biometric verification of beneficiaries.

Part of initial plan

When the Atta-Dal scheme was launched in 2007, it was decided to distribute flour to beneficiaries at Re 1/kg. However, fearing that the flour may get infested or be adulterated, the then government decided to distribute only wheat.