Odisha seeks release of shortfall allocation of rice under NFSA

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday wrote to Union food & consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan requesting to release shortfall allocation of about 99,960 MT rice under NFSA for the period of Nov 2015 to Feb 2017.

During the period November 2015 to February 2017, there was a difference between Government of India’s allocation and food grains demanded by the beneficiaries. This led to less allocation of 99,960.154 MT of rice and excess allocation of 7,322.05 MT of wheat by the Government of India, informed the Chief Minister.

He further said that the distribution of food grains to meet the food security of the poor cannot wait for rectification of the allocation order.

Hence, in anticipation of allocation from the Government of India, the State Government distributed rice and wheat as per the options exercised by the beneficiaries, said Patnaik.

“Since 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out of the Central pool and the surplus wheat allocated, which has not been utilised by the State Government, may be withdrawn. This will help in squaring up the accounts,” said the Chief Minister.

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