Tripura Cong slams BJP govt for fooling state’s ration card holders over gift hampers

PTI, Oct 13, 2023, 6:01 PM IST

Tripura Pradesh Congress on Friday accused the BJP government of fooling the people of the state in the name of offering pre-puja gift hampers to 9.70 lakh ration card holders.

On October 10, Chief Minister Manik Saha and Food and Civil Supplies Minister Sushanta Chowdhury had launched the distribution of special gift hampers to ration card holders.

The gift hamper includes a canvas bag, one litre mustard oil, a kilogram of pulses and flour and 500 grams of lentils and suji.

”While the chief minister and his cabinet colleague launched the distribution of gift hampers as if it was a pre-puja bonanza, many ration card holders had a bitter experience at government fair price shops,” Pradesh Congress president Asish Kumar Saha said at a press conference here.

Saha claimed only the canvas bag with the chief minister’s photograph will be given free while the consumers will have to buy all the food items from ration shops.

”Barring a Rs 113 subsidy on a litre of mustard oil, consumers will have to pay for other food items,” he said.

”We thought the chief minister would give pre-puja gift hampers to the poor keeping in mind escalating costs of essential items, but the government has fooled the ration card holders. It is another jumla by the BJP government,” he said.

Saha said the Congress will organise a Raj Bhavan abhiyan on November 22 in protest against unemployment and price rise besides highlighting the problems faced by the tribals. ”We will meet the chiefs of the party’s frontal organisations on October 15 to prepare the ground for the abhiyan,” he said.