By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: The ruling BJD MPs of Odisha on Monday met Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs & Food & Public Distribution and Textiles Piyush Goyal in New Delhi and requested him to request the release of pending food subsidy of Rs 14,292.41 crore to Odisha and payment of Rs 6187 crores towards the additional interest earned by the State till November 30, 2022.
BJD MPs including Bhartuhari Mahatab, Pinaki Mishra, Dr Sasmit Patra, Manas Mangaraj, Dr Amar Patnaik, Chandrani Murmu, Sarmistha Sethi, Sulata Deo, Dr Achyuta Samanta, Manjulata Mandal, Niranjab Bisi and Pramila Bisoi were among those in the delegation and met Union Minister Piyush Goyal , where Union Parliamentray Affairs, Coal and Mines Minister Pralhad Joshi was also present.
The BJD MPs have also submitted a memorandum, in which , they argued that a total pending food subsidy amounting to Rs 14,292.51 Crore that the Union Government is to pay the Odisha Government . Out of this, Rs 14,292.51 Crore, there are Rs 11,689.21 Crore towards provisional food subsidy and Rs 2603.30 crore towards advance subsidy
The MPs said, in order to ensure that the farmers of Odisha do not face any problems, the Odisha Government signed an MoU with the Union Government to be a decentralised procurement State and help the farmers by procuring foodgrains on behalf of the Union Government.
‘The Odisha Government led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has been on the forefront of ensuring record production of food grains and being the third largest contributor of rice to the PDS system,’ the BJD Memorandum reads.
