The Minister of Food and Consumer Affairs Department Sushanta Chowdhury held a press meet to highlight some key decisions of the Food Department at the Secretariat on Tuesday.

At the conference hall, “It has been decided to open 51 more fair price shops across the state to strengthen the public distribution system of the state.”

He said, “Currently, there are a total of 2,600 fair price shops in the entire state. A total of 252 new fair price shops have been opened in various divisions of the state during the last five years. 51 more fair price shops will be opened across the state by dividing the fair price shops with 800 or more ration cards into shops with 400 cards.”

The Food Minister said, “7 in Dharmanagar, 1 in Panisagar, 1 in Kanchanpur, 3 in Kailashahar, 5 in Kumarghat, 2 in Kamalpur, 1 in Khowai, 2 in Teliamura, 6 in Jirania, 1 in Mohanpur, 1 in Bishalgarh, 2 in Sadar, 6 in Sonamura, 8 in Udaipur, 1 in Belonia, 3 in Sabroom and 1 in Karbuk.”

He added, “All ration card holders in the state will be given an additional 5 kg rice per card at a cost of 13 rupees per kg for the next two months.”

The Food Minister said, “The daily wages for 26 women engaged in cleaning work at the central store of the food department in Arundhati Nagar will increase from rupees 150 to rupees 306.”

The food minister further said, “Initially implemented as a pilot project, Gomati ice cream, curd, ghee, and paneer, will be available at 15 identified fair price shops in different areas of Sadar Sub-division.”