Food Security Act roll out in State from Oct 1

Bhubaneswar: The State government would roll out the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in Odisha from October 1, Food and Supplies secretary Madhusudan Padhy said.

Informing this to media, Padhy said, “As many as 1.4 crore families have enrolled so far and the final list of eligible beneficiaries will be available in public domain by end of August.”

Currently, the total number of beneficiaries stands at 3.93 crore, the official stated adding that the PDS beneficiaries would be eligible to avail food grains and other commodities with their new ration cards.

Earlier, the State government had requested the Centre to increase the rice coverage to cover 4.73 lakh boarders of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes hostels run by the State government.

Sources said, as per the central government guidelines, 78 per cent of rural population and 56 per cent of people in urban areas of the State have been identified to get the benefit under the NFSA based on the 2011 census report.