LIVE TV
India
Recommended Stories
Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday directed district collectors to ensure distribution of ration cards to all eligible beneficiaries by January 15.
Reviewing the mode of implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) through video conferencing aat the state Secretariat here, the chief minister directed the collectors to exclude fake and ineligible persons from the list of beneficiaries by January 15.
Talking to the mediapersons after the meeting, Food Supply and Consumer Welfare minister Sanjay Dasburma said the chief minister asked the collectors to review the applications for exclusion of beneficiaries from the list and take a final decision in this regard by January 15.
“Apart from this, the chief minister asked the collectors to distribute the rationed quota of rice and wheat to all eligible beneficiaries for the month of January within January 31. He also informed that the eligible families, whose names are not found in the NFSA list, will be provided with the ration cards after they apply in the nearest block office, NAC or Municipality,” the minister said.
Official sources said out of a total of 52,659 families who have applied for exclusion of their names from the list, the department has approved exclusion of 30,272 applications.
In the meanwhile, the BJP has objected the implementation of NFSA in the state.
“How can the state government implement NFSA without framing rules? The state government has to frame the rules which have to be approved by the State Cabinet. Without Cabinet approval, the implementation of the Act would be meaningless as no official like the Project Director, District Rural Development Authority (PDDRDA), the Redressal Cell, the Vigilance committee and the State committee will have any power,” BJP leader Manmohan Samal said.
Notably, the state government had implemented NFSA in 14 districts of Kandhamal, Angul, Sonepur, Bolangir, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Nuapada, Malkangiri, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Gajapati, Koraput, Boudh and Deogarh in the first phase on November 25 last year and later implemented in the remaining 16 districts of Mayurbhanj, Bhadrak, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Puri, Nayagarh, Ganjam, Nabarangpur, Balasore, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Rayagada and Sundergarh districts in the first phase on December 20 in the second phase.
