Kolkata, August 30: With prices of essential commodities beginning to spiral out of common people’s reach, West Bengal government today said it will sell sugar, pulses and mustard oil at subsidised rates through public distribution system from September One.
Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta, after a meeting with Food and Supply Minister Paresh Adhikari and his officials said that both APL and BPL card-holders would get the benefit of this special offer during the Durga puja and Eid-ul-Fitre.
He said that sugar would be sold to APL card-holders at Rs 27.50 per kg and to BPL card-holders at Rs 13.50 per kg.
The APL people would get one kg sugar per family per month and BPL ones would get one kg per head per month, Dasgupta said.
The state government has to spend Rs 500 crore for the subsidy besides the cost of rice channelled through the PDS to six crore APL and 2.64 crore BPL card-holders in the state, the finance minister said.
“If supply of all these essential commodities remain intact, the arrangement will continue even beyond the festival period,” Dasgupta said.
He held future trading on essential commodities by big companies responsible for the abnormal price rise and asked them stop it.
—Agencies