PDS RICE CUT: HIGH COURT ISSUES NOTICES TO GOVT

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PDS RICE CUT: HIGH COURT ISSUES NOTICES TO GOVT

Wednesday, 24 July 2013 | PNS | CUTTACK | in Bhubaneswar

The cut in PDS rice to BPL families in the State has now reached  Odisha High Court, which on Tuesday issued notices to the Union Government and the Odisha Government seeking their replies on a petition accusing that BPL families in are receiving 10 kg of PDS rice less every month.

Adjudicating the petition filed by a voluntary organisation, a Division Bench of the court comprising Chief Justice C Nagappan and Justice Indrajit Mohanti issued the notices asking the respondents file their counters within four weeks.

Rohan Mohanty in his capacity as secretary of the Odisha Yuva Manch has approached the court alleging that the Union Government is providing 35 kg of rice under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) to all BPL families of Odisha, but the State Government is distributing only 25 kg to each family every month.

It may be mentioned that opposition Congress party in the State had been agitating over the issue for past several months, and very recently the party launched a unique programme in filing FIRs against Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at police stations.

More than 50,000 FIRs were filed in over 500 police stations of the State by BPL card holders urging the police to take appropriate legal action for criminal breach of trust by the Chief Minister for diverting 10 kg of rice from their quota provided by the Union Government.

The Govt, however, justifying its stand has been arguing that while there are 38.85L BPL families in the State, the Union Govt is providing 35 kg of rice only to 27.75L families. In order to provide subsidised rice to the leftover BPL families, the cut in the quota has been made, the Govt claims.

Refuting the Government’s claim, the petition in the HC maintains that if the Govt could provide rice at Re 1 a kg, instead of Rs 2 a kg previously, why can’t it provide the 35 kg of rice at Rs 2 a kg to all the BPL families, including the leftover 11.10 lakh BPL families. The petitioner has urged the HC to intervene in this crucial matter and direct the State Government to provide 35 kg of rice to all the BPL families every month.

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