Gogoi orders probe into food security anomaly

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, back in office on Monday after a 50-day absence due to cardiac complications, has ordered a probe into the controversial selection of BPL families under a populist food security scheme.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, back in office on Monday after a 50-day absence due to cardiac complications, has ordered a probe into the controversial selection of BPL families under a populist food security scheme. The scheme -- Mukhya Mantrir Anna Suraksha Yojana -- targeted at 13 lakh BPL families across Assam, is scheduled to start in October and end in March before the 2011 Assembly elections.

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Gogoi had in March this year announced the Rs 150 crore food security scheme entailing 10 kg of rice per BPL family per month at Rs 6 per kg. The process of selecting the beneficiaries began a couple of months ago.

According to the guideline, the beneficiaries were to be selected by the Gram Sabhas in each block. The government, mysteriously, transferred the responsibility to a panel of block-level social workers who were allegedly Congress workers. Protests and violence engulfed rural Assam after the list of beneficiaries was pasted outside the office of each block development officer on September 4.

"We have asked the district authorities to enquire into the alleged anomaly and address the problem of the rural masses," Gogoi said.