India News | Tripura Govt Nod for 51 New Ration Shops

Agartala, Jan 30 (PTI) The Tripura government has decided to give licences for 51 new fair price shops in the state, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Sushanta Chowdhury said on Tuesday.

At present, there are 1,060 fair price shops and 9.76 lakh ration card holders in the eight districts of the state.

Also Read | Parliament's Budget Session Begins on January 31, With President Droupadi Murmu Address; Last of Present Lok Sabha.

"The government has decided to provide 51 new dealerships of fair price shops to improve the service delivery system for ration card holders. Under the new guidelines, there will be a new ration shop for 400 ration cards," Chowdhury said.

Each ration shop at present serves 900-1,200 ration card holders, which inconveniences people to get ration materials on time, he said.

Also Read | King Charles' Charity Leads Initiative To Focus on Education of Four Million Indian Children.

"Things will improve once the new ration shops are in place. People will not have to travel long distances to get the supplies from ration shops as a result," he added.

Chowdhury said the government has also decided to provide an additional 5 kg of rice to each ration card holder in February and March at a price of Rs 13 per kg for APL (above poverty line) card holders.

Families having BPL (below poverty line) and Priority Group cards will get the additional 5 kg of rice free of cost.

At present, BPL and Priority Group card holders get 35 kg of rice per month free of cost, while APL card holders get 20 kg per month.

Chowdhury said the government was working to replace the existing paper cards with PVC ones.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)