Odisha Seeks Release Of Shortfall Allocation Of Rice Under NFSA

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has urged the Centre to release the shortfall allocation of about 99,960 Metric Tonne of rice under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) for 15 months since November 2015.

In a letter to Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ram Vilas Paswan on Tuesday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the state government has been distributing food grains to the beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) since November, 2015.

The total quantity of rice and wheat to be distributed is calculated on the basis of the options exercised by the beneficiaries out of the food grains combination of 5 kgs per person per month for priority households.

“However, during November 2015 to February, 2017, there was a difference between the Central allocation and the food grains demanded by the beneficiaries which led to the less allocation of 99,960.154 MT of rice and excess allocation of 7332.05 MT of wheat by the Centre,” Naveen pointed out.

He further reminded the Union minister that since the distribution of food grains to meet the food security of the poor cannot wait for rectification of the allocation order, in anticipation of the Central allocation, the state government distributed rice and wheat as per the options exercised by the beneficiaries.

“Since the food grains have already been distributed, it is requested that 99,960.154 MT of rice may be released out of the Central pool and the surplus wheat allocated, which has not been utilized by the state government, may be withdrawn which will help in squaring up the accounts,” the Chief Minister pointed out.