BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release food grains and pending funds under Annapurna scheme.
In letter to the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister said, “It is a matter of concern that for the year 2016-17 and 2017-18 no allocation of food grains has been received by the state from the Department of Food and Public Distribution. Further, no funds have been received from the Ministry of Rural Development for the year 2017-18.”
The Chief Minister said in order to avoid inconvenience to the eligible old people and ensure that their food security is taken care of, the state continues to meet the entire allocation of food grains out of the state pool, which is causing an additional financial burden on the state. “I would, therefore, request you to kindly issue instructions to the concerned ministers for early release of food grains and funds relating to the previous years and also to ensure timely release of allocation in future for smooth running of the scheme,” he said.
Naveen said under the Annapurna scheme, 10 kg of rice is provided free of cost to those senior citizens who, though eligible, but have not been covered under the national old age pension scheme. The Ministry of Rural Development is the nodal Ministry at Government of India level and they release the funds for operation of the scheme, he said and added that Department of Food and Public Distribution under Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution releases allotment of food grains. “In Odisha, we are covering 64, 800 old people under the scheme,” he added.