Tripura ranks fifth in the country in implementing the National Food Security Act. According to the recently released NFS-A State Ranking Index-2022 survey report of the central government for special achievements in the implementation of the National Food Security Act in the state, Tripura ranks first among 14 special category states and Union Territories and fifth in the country. Minister of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department Manoj Kanti Deb informed this news at a press conference held yesterday in the press conference hall of the secretariat.
In the press conference, Food Minister Sri deb highlighted the significant achievements of the Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs and various developmental programmes and said that the present government came to power in the state and decided to give a maximum of 25 kg of rice per family belonging to APL through fair price shops which was earlier given as 20 kg. Currently APL families are getting a maximum of 25 kg of rice. He said that a plan has been taken to provide soyabeans to consumers through ration shops in the state. Sugar, pulses and Tripureswari tea leaves are also being given to consumers through the fair price shops. Apart from this, the food minister said that it has been decided to give the products of self-help groups through fair price shops. He said that the current state government is trying to make the public distribution system transparent and streamlined in the state. Installation of E-POS machines in fair price shops has enabled identification of 62,000 fake ration cards in the state. The names of 2,81,000 people were registered in these 62,000 fake ration cards. Because of this, the central and state governments were losing about 5 crore rupees every month.
Food Minister said that the present government started buying paddy from the farmers of the state at the minimum support price during the 2018-2019 financial year during Kharif season in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture and FCI in order to economically strengthen the farmers of the state. From 2018 till now, a total of 1 lakh 30 thousand 721 metric tons of paddy has been purchased from farmers in the state under the government initiatives and a total of rupees 243 crore 99 lakh has been paid to the farmers as minimum support price. He said that in the first phase of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, a total of 95 thousand 25 metric tons of rice and a total of 4 thousand 381 metric tons of pulses were distributed free in the state from April 2020 to November 2020. Later this scheme was re-launched from May 2021. In the second phase, 1 lakh 84 thousand 931 metric tons of rice has been provided free of cost to about 5 lakh 96 thousand NFSA families of the state in the last fifteen months till July, 2022. Fortified rice is being distributed from April 2022 in Dhalai district of the state as an Aspirational district through Public distribution system. The food minister said that this rice will be distributed to other districts of the state in phases.
Food Minister said that the state government has taken the initiative to open 408 new fair price shops in the state based on the geographical location of the population in the financial year 2020-21 with the aim of making the public distribution system easier to reach the people. So far 239 new fair price shops have been opened. In this case women are given preference in providing dealerships. He also said that 1 thousand 68 APL tea worker families who were outside the National Food Security Act have been newly brought under the National Food Security Act. As an initiative to bring permanently resettled Bru migrants families in the state under Public distribution system, a total of 1480 Bru migrants families have been given Antyodaya Bru Ration Cards so far. With a view to further improving the storage infrastructure under the Public Distribution System of the State, construction of two godowns at Belbari in Jirania and Chandrapur in Udaipur with a storage capacity of 500 MT and 1,000 MT respectively has been completed and will be commissioned soon under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme. Moreover, the construction of 4 new godowns with a total storage capacity of 2,500 MT will be completed within the next few months. 2 Working Standard Labs of Legal Metrology Organization have been set up in Mohanpur and Longtharai valley sub- division of the State.
Food Minister said that since the launch of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, a total of 2 lakh 88 thousand 854 families have been provided gas connection in the state so far. Out of this, 2 lakh 43 thousand 354 gas connections have been given after March 2018. An e-service platform for Ration Card has recently been launched in the State to make the process of providing Ration Card related services easier and faster for the convenience of the people of the State. Moreover, One Nation One Ration Card is being implemented in the state. Tapan Kumar Das, director of the Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, was present at the press conference.
