Mumbai: While the Bharatiya Janata Party has been demanding the state government to provide ration to all those who do not have ration cards, the central government headed by them has not allowed to do so.
Despite requests by the state government, it has not yet permitted the distribution of five per cent of the remaining ration to all those who do not have ration cards. The lockdown has left several migrants as well as the poor stranded without income, food, and shelter in the state. “The state government does not have any scheme to provide them with ration.
Therefore, it wants to distribute five per cent of the ration, which is remaining after the distribution allocated for the month,” said Chhagan Bhujbal, Food and Civil Supplies minister. The state government has proposed to provide rice for Rs 3 per kg and wheat for Rs 2 per kg.
It has requested the central government to allow for such distribution of ration. Bhujbal has written a letter in this regard to Ramvilas Paswan, union minister for Food and Civil Supplies, on April 1. As he did not get any response from the central government, he again raised this demand during a video conference with Paswan on April 14.
Bhujbal also sent a letter to draw the central government’s attention to the issue. Remaining ration Each month, seven to 10 per cent ration allocated to the state remains undistributed.
As per the Annavitran portal of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, the state was allocated 2,08,428 metric tonnes of wheat and 1,63,383.71 MT of rice in March this year. Out of this, 92 per cent was distributed and around 8 per cent was remaining with the state government.
In the month of February, the state got 2,08,078 MT of wheat and 1,63,085 MT of rice. Out of this allocation, around 90 per cent was distributed and 10 per cent was remaining with the state government.