BHUBANESWAR: The Centre has renamed the free rice and wheat distribution scheme under National Food Security Act (NFSA) as ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana’ under which 3.25 crore people of the state will get 5 kg rice.
Welcoming the re-launch of the scheme by the Centre, president of state BJP Sameer Mohanty alleged this has exposed the lies of BJD. He said BJD had converted the free rice distribution scheme to an instrument for luring voters. Many deserving beneficiaries were not getting rice under the scheme because of large-scale irregularities.
Stating that the new scheme will take the ‘One Nation, One Ration’, scheme of the Centre ahead, Mohanty said Odisha which is facing the issue of migration of labourers for jobs, will hugely benefit from it. The BJP president said the entire expenditure for the implementation of the scheme will be borne by the Centre.
Mohanty said under the cheap rice scheme of the NFSA, the state government was spending Rs 2 per kg for which the BJD was trying to take credit. The Centre was spending Rs 34.28 per kg due to which the state government was providing rice at Rs 1 per kg. The BJP president said now that the Narendra Modi government has announced that rice will be provided free of cost, it will help check black marketing and irregularities in the scheme.