Bhubaneswar: More than one and half months after the State government published the notification on the formation of the Food Commission, no decision has yet been taken on the chairman and members of the body.
In the notification issued on January 25 this year, it was clearly mentioned that grievances will be heard by the Food Commission within 15 days. Further, the notification had said the commission, which is mandatory under the NFSA Act, will have a chairperson and six members.
Sulochana Das, Congress spokesperson, said, “It seems the state government has forgotten all about the notification.”
"This is mere an eyewash as no district-level grievance redressal forum has been formed yet. Besides, Project director of DRDA, who was given the charge to hear the issues, is not listening to anything,” she added.
Expressing similar views, Golak Mohapatra, BJP spokesperson, said, “Till now, the Food Commission has not been formed at the State level. When will the government form committees at the block and district level?”
“This shows the state government is promoting corruption and is not implementing the Central act properly,” Mohapatra further stated.
Refuting the charges, Samir Dash, BJD spokesperson, said “An officer has already been given the charge of the commission. As for regularization of a chairman of the Commission, the state government will take a decision soon and notify it.”
Meanwhile, the State government is in trouble over presence of 83,498 NFSA beneficiaries in six districts in excess of the targets given.
Sanjay Das Burma, Civil Supplies Minister, said, “We have sensitized the collectors asking them to drop the name of ineligible beneficiaries, if there are any, from the list.”
The State government has so far cancelled the NFSA cards of more than eight lakh ineligible beneficiaries.