Refused rice, Punjab govt to start giving free wheat, pulses in a week

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government will start free distribution of five kilograms of wheat per person and one kg of pulses per household to 36 lakh poor households for the next three months under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) in a week.

The state has been allocated additional 2.12 lakh metric tonnes (MTs) of wheat by the Union ministry of food, consumer affairs, and public distribution for the April-June period for distribution to 1.41 crore beneficiaries identified under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) to ensure availability of food to the poor during the lockdown. Of this, 11,565 MTs of wheat will be distributed to 1.92 lakh ‘poor of the poorest’ households identified under Antyodaya Anna Yojana and remaining 2 lakh MTs to about 33.43 lakh priority households in the state. This is in addition to the subsidised wheat provided to all these ration cardholders.

“The centre has allocated wheat, but we are still waiting for 10,800 MT of pulses which are expected to arrive from Rajasthan in the next three to four days. The distribution of wheat and pulses for three months will be done in one go and will be started in about a week’s time,” a senior food and civil supplies department said.

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had on March 26 announced the free supply of an additional 5kg of wheat or rice per person per month and 1kg of preferred pulses every month for three months to deal with the economic impact of the lockdown.

The state government had requested the food, consumer affairs, and public distribution ministry to divide free ration into 10kg of wheat and 5kg of rice as the latter is ready to cook and also because of food habits of people from other states who have settled in Punjab and are covered under the NFSA. However, the central ministry did not accede to the request and allocated only wheat, citing limited availability of rice stock.

Haryana and Rajasthan are the only other states in the country that have not been allocated rice for free distribution under the scheme. Overall, the Centre has allocated 36.88 lakh MTs of rice and 3.58 lakh MTs of wheat per month to the states and union territories under PMGKAY.

Similarly, the Punjab government had on March 27 requested the Centre for four varieties of pulses, as per the guidelines which mentioned preferred pulses, but has been allowed only chana dal (split chickpea lentils). The dal will be supplied by National Agriculture Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED).

“The state food and civil supplies department will first supply the free ration through the ration depots in a staggered manner to avoid overcrowding and subsequently give the subsidised foodgrains to them under the targeted public distribution scheme,” the official said.

Principal Secretary, health and family welfare, Anurag Agarwal also issued an order on Wednesday to continue the suspension of biometric authentication of the NFSA beneficiaries through the electronic point of sale (ePoS) devices at fair price shops during ration distribution till April 15. In addition, the state government will supply 15 lakh packets of dry ration.

STATE ALLOCATED ADDITIONAL 2.12 LAKH MT WHEAT BY CENTRE FOR APRIL-JUNE PERIOD FOR DISTRIBUTION TO 1.41-CR BENEFICIARIES UNDER NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY ACT