By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: The Naveen Patnaik led Government in Odisha along with 10 other States are not following the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and Pradhan Mantri Garib Anna Yojana(PMGAY)and for which the Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan accusing them of taking subsidised PDS foodgrains and passing on to end users as their own, without giving any credit to the Centre, sources said on Monday.
Under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), the central government is providing foodgrains to states for distribution through Public Distribution System (PDS), also known as ration shops, at a subsidised rate of Rs 2/kg rice and Rs 3/kg wheat, costing over Rs 1 lakh crore annually to the exchequer.
Out of 11 States, 6 States including Odisha , Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh are distributing rice at a further subsidised rate of Rs 1/kg and Tripura at Rs 2/kg rice via PDS while 4 States including West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka) are distributing grains at free of cost.
There are 11 States including Odisha which take subsidised foodgrains from the central government but are passing on to ration card holders free of cost or at further subsidised rates, Union Minister Paswan had alleged.
Union Food Ministry is spending over Rs 1 lakh crore annually on subsidised PDS foodgrains distribution, but in several states there is no mention or credit given to the Union government.
Paswan said, had “These states spend about Rs 10,000 crore from their pocket and pass it to end users as their own. This is wrong on their part. They should give due credit to the central government,”.
