Congress urges Pawar to retain wheat quota for Andamans

Port Blair, Aug 31 (UNI) The Congress has urged Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar for retaining the quota of 500 quintals of wheat for tsunami-hit Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The quota has been reduced by 50 per cent recently for all the states, including these remote islands.

''The Ministry has reduced the quota considering the availability of wheat, but this remote archipelago should be considered in a different manner,'' Kuldeep Rai Sharma, president of Andaman and Nicobar Territorial Congress Committee told UNI.

Mr Sharma said people at Andaman and Nicobar need regular supply of wheat and reduction of quota is a problem for them.

Climatic conditions in these islands do not favour cultivation of wheat.

''There is no production of wheat here and the consumers are solely dependent on wheat allotted by the Centre,'' Mr Sharma added.

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