Bhubaneswar: Many poor people in Odisha are now facing problems to get ration cards under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) as the state government has stopped accepting applications for the same at Ration Card Management System Centre (RCMSC) till October 2, sources said.
State Food Security and Consumer Welfare (FS&CW) Secretary VV Yadav has written to all district collectors asking them to enroll beneficiaries for Odisha Government’s own food security scheme, scheduled to be launched October 2.
The Centre had launched the NFSA in 2013 to ensure food for all poor people in the country. It has also laid down certain guidelines for selection of beneficiaries for the scheme. However, the Centre has allowed the state governments to issue the ration cards under the NFSA to all eligible people in accordance with the guidelines.
According to sources, the Central government had advised Odisha to include 3, 26, 41, 800 people under the NFSA by taking into account the 2011 Census. Till date, the state government has included 3, 22, 81, 254 people under the scheme. As per the available data, altogether 2, 80, 66, 391 people have been included under the Antyodaya Annapurna Yojana (AAY) while the remaining are priority households (PHS).
However, the state government is yet to provide ration cards to at least 4 lakh people as per the Centre’s advice.
On the other hand, the state government is pleading that the number of below poverty line (BPL) people in Odisha has gone up by 25 lakh since 2011 Census. “The state government is claiming that the number of BPL people has risen by 25 lakh since 2011 Census, but it has failed to include around 4 lakh people under the NFSA,” said a source familiar with the development.
Sources claimed that many poor people are making a beeline at various RCMSCs across the state for ration cards under NFSA but to no avail.
Now, the FS&CW Department has started the process to enroll beneficiaries for the state government’s own food security scheme. The state government has finalised to include altogether 25 lakh people under the scheme in the first phase. However, all these beneficiaries would be provided rice only at one rupee per kilogram.
“We will not accept applications for rational cards under the NFSA till October 2. We are now making all efforts for enrolling beneficiaries for the state government-sponsored food security programme,” said a senior official of FS&CW Department.