Srinagar: Stating that the new food entitlement scheme announced by the State government is devoid of any major relief, CPI (M) leader and MLA Kulgam Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami has said the exorbitant rates of 5 Kgs of additional ration announced under the scheme has diluted the initiative being portrayed as a major relief given to the common public.
In a statement issued to KNS, Tarigami said: The ration being sold @ Rs 10 per Kg will be now available to the consumers @ Rs 15 per Kg under the new food entitlement scheme. On the one hand the government has increased the quota of ration and on the other hand this additional quota has been made unaffordable for the common man. This arbitrary hike in the price of subsidized ration has minimized the relief given to the public.
He invited the attention of the Chief Minister Ms Mehbooba Mufti towards the CPI (M) resolution on the subject that was unanimously adopted by the Legislative Assembly on 27.08.2014 for provision of 35 kgs ration to each family @ Rs.2/- per kg. Interestingly, both the coalition partners PDP and BJP had unequivocally voted in support of this resolution. Now it becomes a moral responsibility for PDP-BJP government to implement the resolution and provide the ration to the people accordingly, he observed.
The CPI (M) leader also rued the massive discrepancies in the database compiled by the CAPD in the state and termed it as step towards nurturing corruption and malpractices in the department. Tarigami demanded inclusion lakhs of families that comprises a large section of the society especially those born in 2011 and onwards who have been left outside the preview of subsidized ration sofar.
Tarigami said that the erstwhile, families belonging to both APL and BPL categories were being provided adequate ration on the subsidized rates and while ration allocation to the APL families will be completely halted under the NFSA guidelines, the allocation for BPL families will also be hit and compounded by new impeding formalities. The government must at least come clean on the criteria adopted for the defining a family as BPL under the NFSA guidelines. This criterion should be widely displayed at every ration depot in order to bring transparency and probity in the public distribution department. The anomalies that have surfaced in the list of BPL need to be addressed so that the genuine families are included in these categories, he demanded.
The CPI (M) leader said that the NFSA implementation deprives around 4.5 lakh families of necessary, basic amounts of ration within Srinagar city alone. I would urge the Chief Minister to address the public grievances with regard to implementation of NFSA in totality and take a decision that will accommodate the genuine demands of the people in the State, Tarigami demanded.
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