Agartala, Jan 31 (UNI) The Tripura government on Tuesday announced the sale of four dairy products of Gomati Milk Union of the state at subsidized prices through the Public Distribution System (PDS) from February 16 next, said Food and Civil Supplies Minister Sushanta Choudhury.
Besides milk and sweets, Gomati-produced ice cream, paneer, curd and ghee have been vending at the doorstep of the city everyday for the last four years. Now, the state government has decided to start vending sealed dairy items, which have a little longer shelf life in PDS.
“The pilot project will start in 15 ration shops of Agartala at the beginning and more ration shops would be brought under the scheme considering the response from the consumers,” Choudhury said.
The department has signed an agreement with Gomati to start vending the products at the retail price and the ration dealer would get a small margin in each sale.
According to the agreement, Gomati authority will provide special refrigerators to each of these shops for storing the products.
The project aims to make dairy items available in each of the localities at ration shops for longer shopping time.
At present, the consumers have to buy the products when the vendor reaches the locality or else visit their outlet at a longer distance.
“The consumption of milk and milk products in Tripura is very poor and the BJP-led government soon after coming to power in 2018 has undertaken several steps to popularize the local quality dairy products at a cheaper rate. The vending of dairy products of Gomati by battery-operated tricycle in the morning across the city was started during Covid pandemic and the consumption of the products increased manifolds in three years,” Choudhury stated.
He hoped vending dairy products in PDS would give a further boost to Gomati products across the state.
He maintained that the state government has decided to distribute an additional 5 kilograms of rice to each of 9.76 lakh families at a fixed rate of Rs 13 per kg for the next two months.A total of 10,000 MT of rice have been allocated for the distribution of the additional amount of rice in PDS.
Moreover, to bring PDS to every locality the department will open 51 new ration shops, the minister said and added, “Tripura government is supplying mustard oil, spices, and masoor dal in PDS at a subsidized rate for all.”
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