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Centre blinks at State’s plea for more rice
Nearly 100 metric tonnes of wheat allotted to Telangana under the National Food Security Programme this January remain ‘unutilised’ and stockpiled in godowns across the State as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government is reluctant to distribute wheat to the 90 lakh beneficiaries. Instead, the government wants to distribute rice, according to official sources.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Over 100 metric tonnes of wheat allotted to the State under the National Food Security Programme remain unused
Hyderabad: Nearly 100 metric tonnes of wheat allotted to Telangana under the National Food Security Programme this January remain ‘unutilised’ and stockpiled in godowns across the State as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government is reluctant to distribute wheat to the 90 lakh beneficiaries. Instead, the government wants to distribute rice, according to official sources.
It may be recalled that the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution had allotted the first installment of wheat with a direction to distribute it to beneficiaries at the rate of Rs 2 per kg. However, the State Civil Supplies department has not yet taken a decision on the distribution of wheat in the wake of the State government’s plea to replace wheat with rice which has been pending before the Centre.
“Wheat stocks are lying in the FCI godowns at all revenue division levels,” State General Manager (PDS), Jairam said. The State government has written several times to the Centre requesting the cancellation of allotment of wheat to the State as its consumption is minimal among beneficiaries. It has been asking the Centre to release rice instead to meet the growing demand after the quota for each person was increased to 6 kg from 5 kg every month under the highly-subsidised State-sponsored Re 1 per kg rice scheme.
According to official estimates, the State requires nearly 1.80 lakh tonnes of rice to distribute among its white ration card holders and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) scheme beneficiaries. The total number of rice card holders in the State is nearly 2 crore. The Centre has cut down rice supply to 80 lakh tonnes from the present 1.30 lakh tonnes after wheat was supplied to the State.
“Downsizing the rice quota has put Rs 700 crore burden on Telangana State as it needs to procure nearly 50 lakh tonnes of rice to meet the demand,” an official said. The government has brought to the notice of the Centre that beneficiaries are not using wheat in their diet as they are habituated to eating rice only. However, the government has already been supplying the wheat at the cost of Rs 7 per kg to all card holders including pink card owners, who use it for additional diet purposes.
