AGARTALA, Oct 9 (TIWN): Public distribution systems are being facing acute shortage of food grains leading the people of the state to suffer.

Even on the second week of the October month the all the ration shops are not yet avail with the food grains.

The delay in allocating the food grains in all the ration shops is hampering the livelihood of the poor people of the state. As the responsibility of the distribution of food grains has been shifted to the contractors, certain discussions were done on this issue and possibly the process goy delayed.

Even in the second week of the month food grains has not reached the ration shops and uncertainty still looms large when people can easily get their food grains from the concern ration shop.

Earlier the responsibility of distributing the food grains to the ration shops were limited to the dealers but recently it has been handed over to the contractors which are the prime reason behind the delay in the availability of the food grains in the ration shops.

Tripura along with other northeastern states of India which suffer deficit in their staple food rice, try to make it up from northern surplus states like Punjab, Haryana or Chhattisgarh by train and roads which are often closed due to natural calamities and law and order problem within the region.

The National Food Security Act, 2013 is an Act of the Parliament of India which aims to provide subsidized food grains to population of the country. It was signed into law on September 12, 2013, retroactive to July 5, 2013.

The National Food Security Act, 2013 converts into legal entitlements for existing food security programmes of the Government of India. It includes the Midday Meal Scheme, Integrated Child Development Services scheme and the Public Distribution System. Further, the NFSA 2013 recognizes maternity entitlements.

The Midday Meal Scheme and the Integrated Child Development Services Scheme are universal in nature whereas the PDS will reach about two-thirds of the population.