Congress MlAs staged a walkout of the House on the first day of the two-day special session of the Assembly on Monday after creating a ruckus over the escalated price of wheat and rice meant for the APl card holders. As the session commenced Congress MlAs led by the leader of the Opposition Indira Hridayesh gave a notice on the matter under 310 section and demanded the State Government to roll back the hike, affecting a large section of the State’s populace. However, the Speaker said that he would allow a discussion on the matter only under 58 section of the Assembly proceeding rules. Venting their unhappiness over the Speaker’s ruling, the Opposition MlAs first stormed into the well of the House and then staged a collective walkout.
Contrasting the prices of wheat and rice for the APl card holders under public distribution system during the earlier Congress regime and the present BJP regime, the leader of the Opposition Hridayesh said that the wheat is being sold for Rs 8.60 per kg and rice forRs15 per kg to the APl card holders under the present regime while wheat was being sold Rs five per kg and rice for Rs nine per kg during the Congress regime.
Speaking on the matter, Congress MlA Preetam Singh said that the Congress government had implemented this scheme under National Food Security Scheme (NGSS) and 61.94 lakh people had benefitted. “later we had revised things and a person having income of Rs five lakh per year was included and the number of beneficiaries rose up to 45.5 lakh. The prices of these essential food grains have seen a steep rise following the regime change in the state. The state government must roll back the hike and resume the earlier prices fixed during the Congress regime,” he said.
Tearing into the BJP Government, the Congress MlA Karan Mahra said that the role of the State Government had reversed from welfare to the earning revenue at the expense of the common people. Qazi Nizamuddin also echoed the same criticism, saying that the BJP Government has reduced itself to machine for exploiting the people to swell income. MlA Govind Singh Kunjwal alleged that the state government has not just hiked the prices but also curtailed the quantity to be distributed over PDS.
Defending the State Government, the state parliamentary affairs minister Prakash pant said that 1330404 people are collecting rations under NFSS and the number of such card holders having an income of Rs five lakh per annum is 113300. “Earlier, they were paying Rs115 per month for the ration, but now they are paying Rs193 per card. A person earning Rs40,000 per month has enough money to purchase ration worth Rs193 per month. We have introduced Tide over allocation to make the price variable,” he said.