MNF to launch agitation if Mizoram government hikes price of rice

AIZAWL: Opposition Mizo National Front ( MNF) today threatened to launch agitation if the Mizoram government hikes the price of rice in 2015.

In a press statement, the MNF said that the Congress government in the state was planning to hike the price of rice distributed through the PDS by Rs 5.50 a kilo from next year.

"India produced surplus rice and a huge quantity of rice rot in many places during 2013 prompting the Supreme Court instructing the government to distribute rice to the poor free of cost," the statement said.

It also said that the Food Security Bill enacted by the Parliament during the Congress rule at the Centre provided that a kilo of rice would cost Rs three and that the Food Security Scheme should be implemented by all the state by May 2015.

The MNF said that the "intention of the state government to increase the cost of rice is nothing but daylight robbery committed against the general public, especially the poorer section of the society."

"The MNF would strongly oppose and take necessary steps against the government if the latter goes ahead with its plan to hike the cost of rice," the statement added.