PDS buckles under Inflation pressure, people suffer

RATION MESS: The govt unable to meet the demands of people has asked ration shops to supply only portions of what is entitled.

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Keywords: Demand, Foodgrains

Mumbai: Inflation has taken a toll on the entire economy and perhaps no one more than those above the poverty line in Maharashtra suffers, as a poor public distribution system buckles under the pressure.

Thirty-year-old Meenadevi's ration entitlement of thirty-five kilogram of food grains has been radically rationed to a little less than a kilogram.

“How will I feed my family with the inflation being so high,” says slum resident, Meenadevi.

People earning an income between Rs15,000 and Rs one lakh a year, under the above poverty line scheme, are entitled to 35 kilograms of food grains at subsidised rates, Rs nine and fifty paise per kg of rice and Rs seven per kg of wheat.

These subsidised rates are almost half the current market prices. With prices rising every day, there has been a fresh demand for subsidised food grains.

The government unable to meet the rise in demand has issued instructions to ration shops to supply only 1.51 per cent of rice and 1.57 per cent of wheat which APL card holders are actually entitled to get.

However, the state government has assured people that necessary steps are being taken to meet the demand.

“There wasn't much demand from APL, now there is, we're trying to meet the demands,” says State Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, Sunil Tatkare.

Activists are also demanding a change in the annual income criteria for identifying people below poverty line to cover more families. They say the present level of Rs 15,000 is too low and unrealistic.