Govt committed to implement Rs. 500 gas cylinder and Rs. 500 bonus to farmers within 100 days, says Uttam Kumar Reddy
The Hindu
Civil Supplies and Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the State government is committed to providing LPG cylinder at Rs. 500 and bonus of Rs. 500/quintal of paddy.
Civil Supplies and Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has said that the Congress Government is committed to implementing its promises of providing LPG cylinder at Rs. 500 and bonus of Rs. 500 per a quintal of paddy, forming part of the party’s six guarantees within hundred days of coming to power.
The details of the exact number of beneficiaries under the Mahalakshmi scheme envisaging provision of gas cylinders at Rs. 500 are being worked out and the Government will soon put in place a new system for effective implementation of the scheme. The scheme could cost about Rs. 3,000 crore to Rs. 4,000 crore a year to the State exchequer.
Capt. Uttam Kumar Reddy conducted a detailed meeting with the Civil Supplies department officials to understand the functioning of the department. He emphasised the crucial role played by the department in serving the State’s 2.9 crore population, particularly the underprivileged sections through the public distribution system. The department was handling the paddy procurement operation as well.
Referring to new ration cards, he said there were 89.98 lakh food security cards in theState with around 11.02 lakhs applications for new cards pending. Cardholders were getting 6 kg of rice for free, of which the Centre was providing 5 kg under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana and the State was providing 1 kg.
He lamented that 11 per cent of the intended beneficiaries were not using their ration cards and said he would take the matter to the notice of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy for deciding on the State Cabinet on the issue of new ration cards. Also, close to 90% of the rice being provided by the Centre and State Governments spending Rs. 39.02 a kg was not edible forcing the beneficiaries to sell away the poor quality rice. “The very purpose of supplying free rice to the poor through PDS is not being achieved,” he said.
He directed the Civil Supplies Department officials to conduct an in-depth study on the quality of rice being supplied to the ration card holders. “If the rice being given to the poor people is not edible, then the entire purpose is lost,” he said, directing the officials concerned to identify and rectify the lapses in the functioning of the corporation, especially in the management of IKP centres.
Capt. Uttam Kumar Reddy accused the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government of ruining the Civil Supplies Corporation’s financial health. The BRS Govt never supported the corporation financially and prompted it to take loans from outside agencies while giving guarantees. Consequently, the Civil Supplies Department had outstanding debts of Rs Rs 52,067.03 crore which was alarming and the seriousness of the situation could be gauged from the fact that the department had to pay Rs. 3,645 crore towards interest on these loans, he said.
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