Campaigners say the state government’s inaction in distributing
food grains may force the poor to raid godowns.
The office of Food Corporation of India’s (FCI) manager in Reay Road had some unlikely visitors on Monday morning. Slum dwellers and campaigners affiliated to the Right to Food Campaign staged protests at the office against the state government’s apathy in distributing food to the poor.
They also observed the Food Rights Day for the city’s poor, declared by the Movement for Peace and Justice (MPJ), Mumbai division, and Rationing Kruti Samiti.
Mohammad Anees, president of MPJ, Mumbai division, said that since the Supreme Court has pulled up the Union government for its unwillingness to make food grains available to the poor, the civil society should intervene and demand that the state government make sufficient grains available to the poor.
“This protest was a part of a series of protests across the state. We demand that the state government, until the Centre is clear about its official poverty line, raise the income limit of Above Poverty Line (APL) card holders to Rs2 lakh and make available 35kg of food grains per month to them at subsidised rates.
Also, the allocation to Below Poverty Line card holders should be increased to 50kg per month and per kilogram prices of food grains should be between Rs2 and Rs3, as mandated by the Supreme Court.”
Anees alleged that the godowns follow a policy of “first in, last out and last in, first out” when it comes to the food grain sacks, which eventually leads to rotting of the grains.
Gorakhnath Awadh of Rationing Kruti Samiti said the state government is not taking the full quantity of food grains allocated to it by the Centre through FCI, leading to an increase in the number of hungry people in the state.
“We are waiting for the government to respond soon. If it does not, then the poor will be forced to take their share of food grains directly from the godown itself,” he said.
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