The Maharashtra state Cabinet on Tuesday decided to distribute tur dal at the rate of Rs 120 per kg to Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Below Poverty Level (BPL) ration card holders from August to Octo
The Maharashtra state Cabinet on Tuesday decided to distribute tur dal at the rate of Rs 120 per kg to Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Below Poverty Level (BPL) ration card holders from August to October this festive season. This decision will benefit around 70,07,589 ration cardholders. Meanwhile, Congress alleged that the traders and BJP had made hefty profit by increasing the rate of pulses since last year.
Speaking with media persons at Mantralaya after a Cabinet meeting, food and civil supply minister Girish Bapat said the Cabinet had also decided to make available 700 metric tonnes of tur dal received from the Centre in the open market at the same rate. “In the coming days, the Centre will provide an additional 1m100 Mt of tur dal and it will also be made available in the open market,” Mr Bapat said.
This decision has been taken to control the rate of pulses during the festive season. There are 24,72,753 beneficiaries for the AAY scheme and 45,34,836 beneficiaries from the BPL category.
“The state is expected to incur a financial burden of Rs 84.74 crore,” said Mr Bapat adding that in future, the state was planning to make available tur dal through the public distribution system (PDS) throughout the year. The low rate dal would also be available at Big Bazar, Reliance Fresh and D Mart at the same rate, he said.
Meanwhile, Ashok Chavan, state Congress president, said this government had made huge profits by increasing the rate of pulses. “It’s nothing but a pretence. Last year, they had sold pulses at the rate of Rs 100 per kg at the BJP party office for a day and then stopped it,” he said.
