A smiling Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is set to reach over 3 crore families in the next one month as they will be getting new ration cards with the CM's photo under the Food Security Act and even the CM said that people should know who their benefactor is.
“Over 3.32 crore ration cards would be distributed among the poor under which they would be provided wheat at Rs 2 per kilogram and rice at Rs 3 per kg. Each card holder will get five kilograms of food grain for each family unit while Antodaya card holders will get 35 kg of food grain,” Yadav said while distributing ration cards among beneficiaries in lucknow on Wednesday.
The bright coloured bags, in which ration was distributed, carried picture of Akhilesh and ration cards too had picture of the CM beside the state government’s emblem. Akhilesh probably, took a cue from Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalitha and got his picture printed in the ration cards.
“People may question my picture on ration cards and name Samajwadi in the ambulance service. This is because beneficiaries should know who is providing them these benefits,” Yadav said.
The CM had said a number of times that the Samajwadi Party has been good in carrying out development work, but has been wanting in publicising its achievements. As per government records, there are 3.32 crore beneficiaries under Food Security Act. Around 3.17 crore ration cards have been printed and the rest would be printed in the next 15 days.
“All the beneficiaries should get their cards within one month’s time so that they can get ration as per allotment,” the Chief Minister said.
Yadav spoke at length about his government's achievements. He said during drought, his government ensured that no one died of hunger in Bundelkhand. "We used our own resources to distribute food grain among people," said the CM.
“Similarly, we have reached over 55 lakh families though Samajwadi Pension Scheme. And now we will provide food to over 3.32 crore families under Food Security Act. This will ensure that no one sleeps empty stomach in the state anymore,” he said.
The UP government, which had earlier refused to implement the Food Security Act enforced during the previous UPA -II regime, took around over two years to implement it in the state after taking an U-turn. The Act which was passed in October 2013 was implemented on March 1, 2016 in the state.