Announcing this decision taken in today's weekly Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Manohar Joshi told a press conference that the ration card holders in Maharashtra will get an additional quantity of wheat at Rs 5 per kg. ``The usual quota of wheat sold through the PDS is 60,000 tonnes per month, which will go up to 70,000 tonnes per month. The State Government will procure the wheat from the Union Government at the rate of Rs 689 per quintal and the same will be sold to the fair price shops for Rs 450 per quintal. This will cost about Rs 7 crore to the State Exchequer,'' Joshi said.

Apart from this, an additional 40,000 tonnes of wheat to be sold at Rs 3 per kg will be released for tribals in the State, the Chief Minister said. He added that the Union Government did not respond favourably to the StateGovernment's request of increasing subsidy on the wheat sold through the PDS. Joshi said it was not feasible for the State Government to supply wheat to bakery owners to make bread at subsidised rates. He appealed to the citizens to complain to the respective rationing officers, if they received low quality wheat through the PDS.