Tripura to open 51 new fair price shops, diary products to be available

The Tripura Government is set to bolster its public distribution system by opening 51 new fair price shops across the state. 

In a recent press conference, Sushanta Chowdhury, the Minister of Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs, revealed that there are currently 2,600 fair price shops in the entire state. 

Over the last five years, 252 new fair price shops have been established, and now, an additional 51 will be opened based on the latest decision of the Food Department.

“To implement this expansion, existing fair price shops with 800 or more ration cards will be divided into segments of 400 cards each. According to the state government's regulations, a minimum of 400 tagged ration cards is required for opening a new fair price shop in rural or urban areas”, said the Minister.

Chowdhury also announced some key initiatives of the Food Department, including providing an extra five kilograms of rice per ration card at a subsidized cost of Rs 13 per kilogram for the months of February and March 2024. This move is expected to allocate approximately 10,000 metric tons of rice to the Food Department during this period.

In addition, the Food Department has launched a pilot project to distribute dairy products produced by Gomati Dairy Farm through fair price shops. Initially, this initiative will be implemented in 15 selected fair price shops across different areas of the Sadar Sub-division in West District. The dairy products offered will include Gomati ice cream, curd, ghee, and paneer.