The Union Agriculture Ministry has allotted an extra 24,520 tonnes of wheat for November and December to the state for PDS, and the state's Food and Supplies department is readying itself for its distribution. But department officials said that much of the wheat is likely to leak out of the PDS into the private flour mills, since villagers often de cline to accept wheat mainly because of the absence of enough grinding mills.

"We have sent our scheme (for supply of flour) to the Centre, but haven't got any response so far," said Dipak Ghosh, Director of rationing. "We have not received any formal complaints, but we conduct random checks. During such checks, we found that villagers were not drawing wheat and the ration dealers were selling it in the black market," Ghosh added. The Centre's message about the extra allotment had reached him today. Ghosh said the state plans to sell packaged flour to ensure quality. "We will get the wheat sent by the Centre processed at mills and packed into bags bearing the PDS stamp. These bags will be sent to the ration dealers, who will then distribute the contents according to the quotas," he said. Minister for Food and Supplies, Paresh Adhikary, however, did not sound hopeful of a positive response from the Union Government regarding the proposed scheme.

"Many days have passed since we sent the proposal, but there has been no response," he said. Adhikary said the state's proposal for packaged flour followed a recent Supreme Court order in which the court had said that the state could distribute wheat or flour. Adhikary added. "We have asked all dealers to put up notices informing the people about the extra quota."