THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Protesting against the denial of permission for an adjournment motion on the issue, the Opposition staged a walkout from the House. Former Food and Civil Supplies Minister Anoop Jacob, who moved the notice for adjournment motion, said that the current time frame for the preparation of the draft priority list was highly inadequate.
He said that though the public could submit complaints regarding the priority list from October 20, the process was delayed by five days as the training for government officials to handle the complaints was completed only by October 25.
The MLA from Piravom said that the inconvenience caused to the public at taluk supply offices was due to the lack of training given to officials. He added that officials at the panchayat and taluk offices were equally clueless about how to carry out the rectification process. Anoop Jacob blamed the LDF government for effecting a policy change and alleged that its decision to implement state-level ranking instead of taluk-level ranking and the introduction of Aadhar seeding caused inordinate delay in the preparation of the draft priority list.
Raising bogey of privacy
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala warned that if the state lost its share of foodgrain, the onus would lie squarely on the LDF government. He also raised concerns about the lack of privacy protection features and claimed that personal data of beneficiaries could be misused by external agencies. Before staging a walkout over the denial of permission for an adjournment motion, Chennithala said that the state’s PDS system had crumbled due to the “step-motherly attitude” of the BJP government at the Centre and the ineptitude of the LDF government in the state.
Counterpoint
Food and Civil Supplies Minister P Thilothaman hit back at the Opposition by stating that the previous UDF government did not carry out the customary revision of ration cards which was due in 2012. “Had you shown alertness when you were in power, the present situation would not have arisen,” said Thilothaman in a visibly agitated tone. The Food Minister blamed the UDF for not raising the state’s concern about the National Food Security (NFS) Act in Parliament when the Bill was piloted by the then Union Minister K V Thomas. He alleged that the previous UDF government was concerned about wholesale ration dealers than the common man.