BHUBANESWAR: BJP on Wednesday alleged irregularities in distribution of PDS commodities during the pandemic.
The BJP leaders demanded that many beneficiaries are deprived of free ration provided by the Centre. BJP youth wing state president Tankadhar Tripathy, while addressing media, said the state government is misappropriating central funds by increasing the number of bogus ration card holders.
He said the state has 92, 76,934 ration card beneficiaries, but 87, 39,494 have received free ration for May under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY). If we examine data provided by the state government, 5,43,699 beneficiaries have not received ration in May,” he added.
Surprisingly, he said, in the same month, 88,76,162 beneficiaries have taken ration under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).
“If we compare PMGKY with NFSA card holders, there is a gap of more than one lakh beneficiaries. Why this difference,” he questioned.
He said the government has failed to distribute ration to around five lakh beneficiaries under PMGKY. During the first wave, the Centre sanctioned around Rs 955 crore for distribution among beneficiaries of NFSA and State Food Security Act. “Civil supplies officers have submitted utilisation certificates (UC) of Rs 934 crore. That means Rs 21 crore could not be distributed among more than two lakh beneficiaries. If we go by the state government’s letters, there are many faults in the UCs,” he added.
Tripathy said the state government cannot distribute ration to around five lakh beneficiaries, whereas many genuine beneficiaries are waiting for a ration card. BJD leaders did not respond to messages and calls.
