Centre restores Himachal quota in wheat allocation

New Delhi, May 16 (UNI) The Centre today restored the Himachal Pradesh government's quota of wheat for families living below the povery line.

The earlier decision to reduce the quota share will be withdrawn immediately, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told Himachal Food and Civil Supplies Minister Singhi Ram here.

The Centre had reduced the state quota of wheat for BPL families from 3,728 tonne to 1,795 tonne for the current fiscal.

Pointing out that the demand for wheat had increased due to failure of rabi crop in the state, Mr Singhi Ram also pleaded for more allocation of foodgrains under the targeted public distribution system.

Mr Pawar agreed to the state government demand to extend the lifting period of foodgrains from the Food Corporation of India and Kullu gowdowns after Mr Singhi Ram told him that about 2,000 tonne of foodgrains could not be lifted during February 2006.

The state minister also urged the Centre to increase the foodgrain storage facilities in the state from 25,930 tonne to 120,000 tonne to maintain buffer stock for at least three months.

He requested the Centre to include Himachal Pradesh in the scheme started for building additional storage facilities in the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir as the terrain was similar.

He said the state government would provide all assistance such as land transfer in a time-bound manner to expedite the process, according to a Himachal Bhawan release here.

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