Govt halts supply of subsidised pulses, sugar, salt for 2 months

Guwahati: Assam govt on Monday announced a temporary suspension of the distribution of subsidised pulses, sugar and salt under the public distribution system (PDS) for two months, citing the continuation of the vote-on-account budget.

The food, public distribution and consumer affairs department said the supply of these three items was stopped with effect from June. The department clarified that the state is currently operating under a vote-on-account budget and the full budget for 2026-27 will be presented in July.

“The new govt will present a full budget in July, and after its passage, the scheme will restart from Aug,” the notification read.

Officials added that the monthly distribution of free rice will continue uninterrupted during this period. If some fair price shops have leftover stocks of Masoor dal, sugar and salt after May’s distribution, those will be given to poor families this month.

The suspension comes against the backdrop of the interim budget presented in Feb by then finance minister Ajanta Neog, who sought a vote-on-account of ₹62,294.78 crore to enable the govt to meet essential expenditure until the full budget is tabled.

Neog underlined that securing the basic right to food was a priority, with the govt covering 70.71 lakh families and providing free rice to over 2.49 crore citizens under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana.