Agartala: Tripura food and civil supply minister Sushanta Chowdhury has said that his department has collected over Rs 3 lakh in fines, cancelled the licenses of 5 ration shops, and closed 10 shops for black marketing and hoarding.
The food minister said that the food department has been conducting raids to prevent black marketing in various markets and fair-price shops in the state for the past three months.
“A total of 184 markets have been raided so far. As a result, a total fine of Rs 2.26 lakh has been collected, show cause notices have been issued to 58 traders, and 10 shops have been temporarily closed,” he said.
The minister said that 1,789 fair-price shops were also raided.
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“Out of this, 277 fair price shops were served show cause notices. The licenses of 5 fair price shops have been cancelled and a total fine of Rs 1.4 lakh has been collected. Any kind of artificial crisis and the black market will be tackled with firm hands. The state has sufficient stock of daily necessities like rice, wheat, sugar, petrol, diesel, etc.,” he said.
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The food minister said that pulses will be supplied to 2,056 fair-price shops and Anganwadi centres in the state.
He said that the state government has decided that from now, APL consumers will be able to purchase lentils per kg at Rs 82 instead of Rs 84, and BPL and Antyodaya consumers will be able to purchase lentils at Rs 57 per kg instead of Rs 59 at fair price shops.