Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, on Tuesday, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release food grains and pending funds under Annapurna scheme.
In his letter, 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. In order to avoid inconvenience to the eligible old people and to 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.
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. At the same time, Department of Food and Public Distribution, 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, the CM added.
