Paswan rakes up slow distribution of free foodgrains, Capt rejects claims

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had on March 26 announced the free supply of 5kg of wheat or rice per person per month and 1kg of preferred pulses every month for three months to deal with the economic impact of the lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak

Union minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution Ram Vilas Paswan on Thursday called the Punjab government out for tardy distribution of foodgrains to 1.41-crore beneficiaries in the state under the Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY).

HT Image

“Punjab was allocated 70,725 tonnes of foodgrains for April under PMGKAY but the state government distributed 688 tonnes which is merely 1% of the total allocation,” Paswan tweeted, urging Amarinder to expedite the distribution of free foodgrains in his state.

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had on March 26 announced the free supply of 5kg of wheat or rice per person per month and 1kg of preferred pulses every month for three months to deal with the economic impact of the lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Though Paswan also gave similar details of progress made by several other states in separate tweets on the social networking service, his comments on Punjab triggered a war of words between Union food processing industries minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and chief minister Amarinder Singh.

Retweeting Paswan’s comment, Harsimrat asked Amarinder to get his act together and ensure people do not continue to suffer for want of ration. “Please start central ration distribution immediately,” she wrote.

Rejecting the Centre’s claims on food supplies to Punjab, the CM accused Harsimrat of misleading the Union food minister. He denied any delay in distribution of free foodgrains received from the Centre, saying the state had received less than 50% of the promised dal (pulses) in the absence of which the wheat grains also could not be distributed.

Amarinder said as per the Centre’s own directives, wheat and dal had to be distributed to the eligible beneficiaries during the lockdown/curfew, but pulses were not forthcoming from the central government. Contrary to what Harsimrat had been claiming, the fact was that Punjab had received only about 2,500 MT of the promised 10,800 MT of dal by May 1, he said, adding that the state started distribution with this initial quantity of dal and wheat on May 1 itself, and distribution was currently in progress in 18 districts. He further said the state government had already spent from its own budget to distribute 15 lakh food packets, with each containing 10kg wheat, 2kg Dal and 2kg sugar.