Minister accuses official of delaying ration scheme
NEW DELHI: Delhi food minister Imran Hussain on Thursday asked commissioner (food) to begin implementing the doorstep delivery of ration scheme ‘immediately.
The move comes two days after food commissioner, Mohanjeet Singh, had referred the AAP’S government’s ambitious ration scheme to the law department.
In his two-page note, the food minister also stated that the proposal had got clearance from minister Kailash Gahlot who heads the law department, where the file has been sent for the second time. “This attempt by the commissioner to refer it again to law department is a ploy meant to delay and sabotage the decision of the council of ministers and the CM,” Hussain wrote in his note.
The minister also said that the action of Singh was ‘suspicious’ and questioned as to why he has been “strongly opposing” the scheme ever since he joined. “There is a lot of corruption in food and civil supplies department. This corruption is not possible without connivance of top most officers of the department. The bureaucracy has opposed any serious reforms in the public distribution system tooth and nail,” Hussain wrote in his note.
Under the scheme, the government plans to send ration in packets to the doorstep of beneficiaries. The project got cabinet nod in March this year but the file was returned to the government by the lieutenant governor (L-G) Anil Baijal with the suggestion that it be sent to the Centre as the scheme fell under National Food Security Act, 2013.
Hussain said that chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on July 6 had clarified all objections raised by the L-G and overruled the same. “Therefore, after the approval of the cabinet and after such clear directions from the CM, there was absolutely no ambiguity left and the commissioner should have immediately started its implementation,” he said.
Calls to commissioner Singh for a response went unanswered.
The minister also alleged that the commissioner had referred the note to another department bypassing him. He also questioned Singh for sending the file to chief secretary Anshu Prakash. “In a matter relating to implementation of EPOS, the chief secretary himself had said that there is no need to route the matters of the department through him… such deliberate attempt to violate the transaction of business rules with malafide intent to scuttle critical PDS reforms is viewed seriously,” he said.