Former PCC president Niranjan Patnaik on Monday urged the State Government to implement the Food Security law with sincerity and support the Bill in the Parliament.
The President of India has accorded assent to the Food Security Ordinance, 2013, which has now become a law of the land. But for the past few months, the representatives of the BJD Government have been claiming that there is nothing new in the Food Security Bill as the State Government is already providing 25 kg of rice to the BPl families at Rs 1 per kg. “This is an absurd and politically-motivated argument. The fact is the State Government is not showing any seriousness and sincerity to free Odisha from the scourge of hunger,” said Patnaik.
Once the law is implemented, any authority responsible for allowing a person to go hungry can be held accountable and even punished under Section 41 of the Act, he said.
At the State level, there would be a State Food Commission and at the Centre a Central Food Commission under Sections 22 and 26 of the Indian Constitution. The commission would enjoy powers of a civil court and can award punishment amounting to a fine of Rs 5,000, Patnaik pointed out.