State Minister of Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Pratap Keshari Deb has alleged that Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh is misleading the people of Odisha by giving wrong information about the new Food Security Bill.
Ramesh on Saturday had said, “If the new Food Security Bill is implemented then Odisha will get more grains than what it has been getting now.” However, Deb said, “The Union Minister is providing total wrong information; we have the facts and figures which show it will adversely impact our State.” “The Centre is allocating BPl rice for 27.76 lakh beneficiaries, including 5.41 lakh APl families of the undivided KBK districts, while the total number of BPl and APl card holders in the State, who are entitled for BPl rice, is 42.32 lakh. The State Government is providing food grains to them and the quantity is much higher than the Centre is providing,” Deb told reporters.
Earlier Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had said, “It is understood that overall rice allotment (by the Centre) to the State would decrease from 1.82 lakh tonnes per month at present to 1.70 lakh tonnes, leading to a reduction of 12,000 tonnes per month.” The new system under the proposed Food Security Bill provides for five kg of food grain per beneficiary every month whereas presently 25 kg of rice is provided per month to a family. After implementation of the Bill; small families and old couples living alone may get only 10 kg to 15 kg of food grain per month, Patnaik had said.