Srinagar, Jul 21 (KNS): The sugar supplied by the government to the consumers will get costlier from this month as the government has stopped subsidy to the Above Poverty Line consumers and kept only Rs 12 for BPL and other priority rations card holders.
Before this month, the consumers would sugar at lower costs as its subsidy was born by the government out of the state exchequer.
For Priority Households, that is consumers falling in the category of Below Poverty Line and AAY, each kilo of sugar would cost Rs 13.50. And for Non-Priority category, Above Poverty Line consumers, it would cost Rs 20 per kg.
However, the government has abolished the subsidy for APL category and hiked the cost for BPL and AAY consumers.
For APL, each kg of sugar at government store will be priced at Rs 37 per kg and for BPL and AAY, Rs 25 will be charged for each kg.
The state has 1.19 crore registered consumers which get ration from Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department. Of these, 74.13 lakh are registered in BPL and AAY category and remaining 45 lakh in the APL or Non-priority category.
Admitting the cut in subsidy for consumers, the minister for FCS&CA Choudhary Zulfikar Ali told KNS the subsidy was abolished by the Government of India for all the states in the country after the implementation of National Food Safety Act.
Ali said that the subsidy for APL category has been abolished by the state government too and for the BPL and AAY consumers, the sugar will be sold at a cost of Rs 25 with the state bearing the Rs 12 per kilogram.
He said the each kg of sugar for APL will cost Rs 37 and for the BPL and AAY, it will cost Rs 25. He said that the state is purchasing sugar at Rs 37 per kg.
“No state is giving subsidized ration to consumers, but our government continued it after the NFSA was implemented across the country. We are bearing Rs 211 crore loss annually from the state exchequer for providing subsidized ration to consumers,” the minister told KNS. (KNS)
