Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched the second phase of distribution of digitised ration cards to the beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) here on Thursday.
In this phase, digitised ration cards would be distributed to the beneficiaries in 16 districts, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Ganjam, Nayagarh, Khordha, Puri, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Jajpur, Baleswar, Bhadrak, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh.
As many as 52,88,681 families would be provided with digitised ration cards in the second phase in which 2,01,79, 605 beneficiaries would be benefitted.
In the first phase, a total of 93.35 lakh beneficiaries of over 26,33,000 families in 14 districts had been included under the scheme. The cards were distributed in the districts of Kandhamal, Angul, Subarnapur, Balangir, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Nuapada, Malkangiri, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Gajapati, Koraput, Boudh and Deogarh.
However, opposition BJP members on Thursday protested the ration card distribution programme orgaznised by the district administration at Baleswar at the Gandhi Smruti Bhawan where the activists showed black flags to Health Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak.
The BJP activists protested the launching of the programme by the State’s Ministers saying that the food security scheme is a Central scheme and it should have been launched by Government officials.
Besides, they alleged that the genuine applicants have been left out; their names have been struck off from the list of beneficiaries. Instead, persons having affiliation to the ruling BJD have been included in the list.
Around 100 of the protesters were later taken into preventive custody. Remuna BJP MlA Gobainda Chandra Das and BJP district president Madan Mohan Dutta led the protest march. The duo was among those who were taken into custody by police.
Reacting to the protest, Minister Nayak said, “We are trying to include the eligible beneficiaries under the scheme. If there is any discrepancy in the list, we would try to sort it out. The opposition members are protesting for the sake of protest just because they are in the opposition. This is not the way to protest.”