The Devendra Fadnavis government, which had silently withdrawn the food subsidy for nearly 1.77 crore people in November, was noncommittal on Thursday when members in the legislative council asked whether the it intends to restore it soon.
The Devendra Fadnavis government, which had silently withdrawn the food subsidy for nearly 1.77 crore people in November, was noncommittal on Thursday when members in the legislative council asked whether the it intends to restore it soon.
The NCP members raised the issue accusing the BJP-Sena government of being "anti-poor" and demanded specific answers from the government on the issue. Girish Bapat, minister for food and civil supplies, informed the upper house that the matter was pending for the cabinet approval.
The matter was brought before the cabinet on February 24 but a final call was yet to be taken because of lack of funds, admitted the minister. The subsidy would cost the state Rs117 crore a month.
The Fadnavis government has decided to discontinue supply of subsidised food grains to 1.77 crore people of above poverty line category (APL) who were previously covered under the Public Distribution System (PDS) as they are not covered under the centrally sponsored Food Security Act, 2013 (FSA).
While there are 8.77 crore PDS beneficiaries in the state, the Centre had sanctioned the Food Security Scheme for only 7 crore people in Maharashtra.
Ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections in the state, the erstwhile Congress-NCP government had decided to continue with PDS benefits for 1.77 crore people who were left out of the FSA. The Prithviraj Chavan government had even ignored the warning of the state's finance department and decided to bear the cost of these additional beneficiaries from the state exchequer. This cost the state an additional burden of Rs117 crore every month till October 31, 2014.
The FSA, which guarantees Right to Food to 2/3rd of the population through subsidised foodgrains, is all set to be rolled out in Maharashtra from February 1, 2014.
Two-third of the population of the country become legally entitled to receive highly subsidised food grains. Each entitled person will receive 5kg of food grains per month (i.e. rice at Rs3, wheat at Rs2 or coarse grains at Re1).
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}