Allocate food grains for 10.84 lakh APL families: Prem Kumar Dhumal

Chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today requested the Centre to allocate food grains for 10.84 lakh Above Poverty Line (APL) families in Himachal Pradesh and said the hill state should be treated on par with north-eastern states.

Himachal Pradesh is a special category hill state and it should be provided food grains quota at the rate of 35 kg per ration card as being given to north-eastern states, he said at a meeting convened by the Government of India on price rise in New Delhi.

At present, the Centre was allocating food grains for 7.43 lakh APL families.

Dhumal also requested the Centre to clear the backlog of 50,000 quintal sugar as the state was facing lot of difficulty for last few months.

Despite frequent requests by the state government in this regard, the state's demand was not being met by the Centre, he claimed.

He said at present, 7118 metric tonnes rice was being allocated for APL families in the state which should be increased to 10,000 metric tonnes per month to meet the requirements.

Similarly, the allocation of wheat should also be increased from present 14,490 metric tonnes to 25,000 metric tonnes, he added.