Acute shortage of rice

Aizawl, Apr 13: Following supply shortage in government godowns, people in different parts of Mizoram are facing acute rice crisis.

Official sources from Saiha district today informed that people have been queuing up in front of grocery shops for a few kilos of rice.

Apart from Saiha town, neigbouring Tuipang area does not even have a single kilo of rice in government godowns.

Those near the Myanmar border have gone as far as Nghalang (inside Myanmar) to buy rice, sources said.

''We have been facing the crisis for two weeks now. People from remote villages flock to Saiha in search of rice where the price of rice has gone up drastically. Even with high price there is not enough rice to buy'', Jeffrey Khara, Saiha-based Moonlight editor added.

Officials from civil supplies stated that the rice crisis has resulted due to the discontinuation of the district quota of APL rice.

In their official statement, the Food, Civil Supplies&Consumers' Affairs department said the Centre has decreased the state's quota of APL rice from 6810 metric ton to 2446 metric ton from April which has been the cause the present APL supply shortage.

The department said it had requested the Centre to resume the original quota and assured that the crisis would be over soon.

The department also stated that efforts were on to stock enough rice for the monsoons, particularly in places where vehicles could not reach.

In view of the decreased quota, villages along the national Highway where market rice could be found have been excluded from APL ration, the department informed.

UNI