Agartala, Sept 07: Tripura Food minister Manoj Kanti Deb on Wednesday said the state has ranked first among 14 special category States/ UTs in the country in implementing National Food Security Act.

Speaking to the media at the civil secretariat, the Food minister also said that Tripura is in the 5th position in the country as per the NFS-A State Ranking Index-2022.

Director of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department- Tapan Kumar Das was also present in the press conference.

Highlighting the major achievements of his department—Food, Civil Supplies and Consumers Affairs, Deb said, the Tripura government initiated a plan to open 408 new ration shops in 2020-21 while 239 new ration shops have already been set up at various locations.

According to the Food minister, works of two new godowns- one at Belbari in Jirania (500 MT storage capacity) and another at Chandrapur in Udaipur (1000 MT storage capacity) have completed under the centrally sponsored scheme. Besides, works for four other godowns with 2500 MT storage capacity would be completed in next few months.

He said, two working standard laboratories of Legal Meteorology Organization have been made functional at at Mohanpur and Longtarai Valley sub-divisions.

Under Ujjwala Yojana, as many as 2,88,845 families in Tripura have so far been provided gas connections. Among them, 2,43,354 connections have been given after 2018.

He also stated, 1068 tea workers’ families in APL category have been brought under the NFS Act. Besides, 1480 Bru families, who have been resettled at various locations in Tripura, have also been brought under the PDS and they have been provided Antoydaya cards.

Deb said, the state government has takes multiple steps include paddy procurement drive at Minimum Support Price to increase the farmers’ income. 

He said, 1,30,721 MT paddy has been procured from the farmers since 2018 and the farmers received total Rs. 243.99 crore.