Odisha food minister meets Paswan, demands more rice

Odisha government today demanded additional rice for 15 lakh people under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

Odisha's food supply and consumer welfare minister S N Patro met Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan at New Delhi and pressed Odisha's long standing demand of more rice.

A statement issued by the department said Patro raised the issue with Paswan and urged him to provide more rice to Odisha under NFSA and include 15 lakh more beneficiaries under the scheme, which will mostly help people belonging to the dalit and tribal communities.

"Patro also asked for Rs 50 crore for the state under Price Stabilisation Fund," the official statement said.

The minister said the state has been receiving rice quota based on the 2011 Census data, while about an additional 15 lakh people have been entitled to get the benefits of NFSA by 2016.

Patro, while talking to a local television channel, said he has urged the Centre to allot more rice instead of wheat under NFSA.

Odisha has received 99,961 metric tonne less rice than required from the Centre under NFSA between November 2015 and February 2017, while the state received 70,322 metric tonne more wheat during the same time period, he said.

Earlier, chief minister Naveen Patnaik in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had said "I request you to kindly intervene in the matter so that the state gets the food grain as per its requisition based on beneficiaries choice."

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)