State food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department officials said the Centre has been apprised of the possible problems to be faced by Mizoram if the scheme is implemented.
Secretary for food, civil supplies and consumer affairs R Lalvena said the department was making all out efforts to implement the scheme even when the Centre’s response to their intimations on the problems is yet to be received.
Earlier, the target population of beneficiaries under the scheme was 6,33,000. But the Centre increased the number to 7,06,000 recently, an official said.
According to the latest instruction, about 70 per cent of the population of the state would receive 5 kg of rice at the rate of Rs 3 a kg every month under the scheme.
Under the present public distribution system (PDS), all people in the state received 8 kg of rice a month and the state required 1,33,000 quintals of rice a month purchased at the cost of Rs 18.19 crore, the official added.
“If the Centre discontinues the current public distribution system, the Mizoram government, in order to cover all the people, would have to pay an additional Rs 7.82 crore a month and if the PDS is continued, the additional expenses would be Rs 2 crore,” he said.
Chief minister Lal Thanhawla, after attending the meeting of Congress chief ministers on Food Security Scheme at the residence of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in Delhi, told newsmen in Aizawl that the state would not implement the scheme due to fiscal crunch.
Lal Thanhawla and food, civil supplies and consumer affairs minister H Rohluna on July 24 informed the assembly that the state government was making efforts to implement the scheme before the expiry of the deadline.
However, while addressing an official function later, the chief minister had said the implementation of the scheme would bring more miseries to the poor people.
0 comments:
Post a Comment