A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution has asked the department to make an objective assessment to find out, upto what extent the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) has helped beneficiaries and how long it needs to be continued further. Under the scheme, of the 759 lakh metric tons of foodgrain was allocated to States and Union Territories, 667.4 lakh metric tons was lifted and 625.56 lakh metric distributed under five phases to poor and needy people due to economic disruptions caused by the pandemic in the country. The scheme has cost the government to the tune of Rs 2, 68,348 crore so far. The scheme is likely to end by March 2022. It is not cleared whether the Government is planning to extend the scheme further or not.
The report tabled in Parliament Tuesday noted that the Department has not carried out or proposed a Study or an objective assessment of the Scheme - in terms of Capital Outlay and Expenditure and their final outcome on the lives of beneficiaries.
“The Committee, therefore, recommended the Department to make an objective assessment to find out, upto what extent the Scheme has helped beneficiaries and how long it needs to be continued further,” the report said.
The Committee applauded the government that they had launched scheme like PMGKAY under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package as part of the Economic Response to COVID -19, for additional allocation of food-grains from the Central Pool @ 5 kg per person per month free of cost for all the beneficiaries covered under Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS)/National Food Security Act(NFSA) (Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) & Priority Households(PHH)) including those covered under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for a total period of 19 months during the year 2020-21 and 2021-22.
The Committee noted that during the years 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021- 22, value of Transit Losses is Rs 257.92 Crore, Rs. 426.85 Crore and Rs 295.65 Crore (till December, 2021) respectively. “Though, in terms of value, Transit Losses have come down to Rs 295.65 Crore during 2021-22 till December, 2021, the amount is still more than the year 2019-20 i.e. Rs 257.92 Crore,” the report said. The Committee observed that these losses are still too high and needs to be reduced further.
The Committee further noted that total number of regular/surprise checks undertaken by the Headquarter Vigilance Squad during the last three years, 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 are 76, 31 and 58 respectively, which is very less, keeping in view the magnanimity of transition work involved. “Any damage of foodgrains that occurs due to human error should be thoroughly investigated and responsibility for the, losses should be fixed. Regular monthly inspection and constant monitoring are also required to check the losses. The Committee, therefore, recommended that vigorous efforts should be made to minimize the Transit Losses and to increase the number and frequency of surprise checks,” the report said.