Naveen seeks release of pending rice quota under Food Act

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking to release the pending rice quota under National Food Security Act (NFSA) to the state.

He said the centre had been requested for the release of 3.20 lakh MT rice and 52.9 thousand MT wheat for the allotment months November 2015 to January 2016.

“But, the Government of India has so far released 2.92 lakh MT rice and 78.4 thousand wheat against the above requirement of food grains under NFSA. This has resulted in a shortfall of 27.9 thousand rice and surplus of 25.5 thousand MT wheat,” said the Chief Minister in the letter.

Informing that Odisha is a rice consuming state and most people prefer rice as their main staple diet, he said the state government’s request was based on ratio 85.82: 14.18 derived from the option of beneficiaries indicated in their NFSA applications.

The Chief Minister informed that 80.05 lakh families (covering 298.5 lakh individuals) had been enrolled as Priority Households and Antyodaya Anna Yojana households under NFSA.