Increase foodgrain quota: Chouhan asks Centre

Bhopal, July 3 : Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today urged the Centre to increase foodgrain quota to the state, saying the state's quota was recently reduced by two-third.

''The Centre should take immediate steps to increase the foodgrain quota'' Mr Chouhan told a function to mark the launch of Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission.

Congress President and UPA chiarperson Sonia Gandhi was also present at the function.

Meanwhile, Mr Chouhan sent a letter to Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar seeking his immediate intervention to increase foodgrain allocation.

Urging Mr Pawar not to cut the state's quota, he said 1.32 lakh toones of wheat and rice meant for allocation to the state under the public distribution system had been drastically cut.

The Chief Minister said 1.95 lakh tonnes of foodgrains, including 1.36 lakh tonnes of wheat and 58,570 tonnes of rice, was allocated to the state under the APL category in May. However, the volume of foodgrain was cut heavily in June with allopcation of only 63,310 tonnes, including 1971 tonnes of wheat, 2760 tonnes of maize and 58,570 tonnes of rice.

Reduction of allocation was 68 percent and for wheat it came to 97 percent, he added.

Since the market rate of wheat is Rs 8 to Rs 10 per Kg, he said maximum number of consumers of APL category would purchase it from the public distribution system. The cut in foodgrain would affect the APL category consumers and therefore Madhya Pradesh needed increased volume of foodgrain, Mr Chouhan added.

UNI