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| Omar asks Centre for more food grains allocation | | |
NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 06 – Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mr. Omar Abdullah Saturday highlighted the dependence of common man on the availability of essential commodities at affordable prices and called for required steps to deal with price hike situation effectively. “Indeed the common man’s life is critically dependent on the availability of essential commodities and we need to be in the state of readiness to manage the availability and control the prices”, he stressed.
Participating in the deliberations of Chief Ministers Conference on prices of essential commodities, here, Mr. Omar observed “we had begun to overlook this aspect for the unprecedented increase in food production, favourable market conditions, comfortable stock position and availability of edibles at affordable prices prevalent in the country till recently but the situation has undergone sudden change and we are facing shortages and price rise”.
“In order to deal with the situations like this, a number of steps are required to be taken in agriculture, horticulture, irrigation and above all in PDS sectors to manage the availability and supply position of essential commodities at present and save future eventualities”, he emphasized.
Enumerating the measures State Government has taken to deal with the supply of essential commodities, Mr. Omar informed that Jammu and Kashmir Government has already fixed stock hoarding limits of sugar, pulses, paddy, edible oils, rice, wheat etc and Apex Squads has been constituted to check these limits at district, provincial and state levels.
“Government is also receiving online complaints on its Grievance Redressal Cell (Awaz-e-Awam) in the Chief Minister’s Office to attend to the consumer needs and take immediate steps wherever required. State Consumer Protection Council, State Consumer Protection Forum and two Divisional Consumer Protection Fora at Srinagar and Jammu are functioning in the state to protect the rights of consumers and manage supply and availability of essential commodities. The State Government has also approved the establishment of eight District Consumer Fora. The enforcement of provisions of Essential Commodities Act and Prevention of Black Marketing and Maintenance of Supply of Essential Commodities Act is under active implementation in the state”.
Stating that Jammu and Kashmir is essentially a food grain deficit state for very small land holdings by the farmers and the major area being hilly and un-irrigated, the Chief Minister sought an allocation of 98000 tonnes per month for all the 19.60 lakh ration ticket holder at the rate of 50 kg per family per month.
Presently state receives 63067 tonnes of rice and wheat from centre per month at the rate of 35 kg per family for 18.02 lakh ration ticket holders.
“With the shrinking of land under paddy cultivation and increased incidences of drought like conditions our monthly requirement has increase over the years”, stressed on increasing the per month quota of food grains to Jammu and Kashmir to cater to the needs of 19.60 lakh rationees families at the rate of 50 kg per family per month.
“Considering the fact that Jammu and Kashmir state is a food grain deficit state, I would like to request for a special dispensation for higher allocations”, he urged the Centre explaining that State Government has already brought to the notice of Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution that the state’s requirement of food grain is much more than the present allocation.
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