Tirupati: White card holders to get wheat flour from July 1

Tirupati: The state government will supply wheat flour to white ration card holders in ration shops from July 1. Civil supplies minister Karumuri Nageswara Rao told the media here on Thursday that the programme will be first launched in minister Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy’s constituency Punganur. It will be supplied in all municipalities across the state and will be extended to rural areas later. White card holders can get one kg wheat flour at a cost of Rs 16 per kg.

The minister said that Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has been taking several steps to encourage the consumption of millets and decided to supply finger millets (ragulu) across the state free of cost soon to white card holders.

Card holders can take these millets in their required quantity by reducing the same quantity of rice. To encourage the farmers, finger millets will be purchased directly from them. Farmers in Rayalaseema region will be encouraged to take up cultivation of Ragi and Jowar in more areas as a pilot project and they will be purchased by the government itself.

He recalled that by eliminating the middlemen system and setting up Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs), the government purchased paddy and the amount was credited to them within one week. To prevent the price hike of various commodities, monitoring was being done through the CM app. Steps will be taken to provide tomatoes at Rs 50 per kg in Rythu bazars, he stated.

The minister criticised the previous TDP government saying that it has diverted almost Rs 20,000 crore funds from the civil supplies department for other purposes, including Rs 4,900 crore for Pasupu-Kumkuma programme, while Jagan Mohhan Reddy has brought in several changes in the department.