BJD spokesperson Pratap Keshari Deb in a Press meet here on Tuesday said when the State Government questioned the Central Government that what steps it had taken to enlist the deprived National Food Security Act (NFSA) beneficiaries of the State, the Centre remained silent on the issue.
He said the State Government had written a letter to the Central Government arguing that the State’s population has increased between 2011 and 2018 and many eligible beneficiaries have been deprived of the scheme, but the Central Government did not take any steps. Hence, the State Government was forced to implement its own food security scheme, Deb added.
Deb also said the BJD Government’s food security scheme is not politically motivated rather the BJP is scared as it never thought that the Naveen Patnaik Government would come up with its own scheme and include 17 lakh more people.
“While the BJP is talking about only 3 lakh people, we are concerned about 20 lakh people of Odisha,” he further said.