Ministers, AAP legislators to promote home delivery of rations

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Cabinet Ministers, along with MLAS, MPS and volunteers of Aam Aadmi Party, will go from door to door to tell Delhi residents the need to implement the Home Delivery of Ration Scheme and explain how BJP is stalling the scheme through the Lieutenant Governor.

In a recent order, LG Anil Baijal asked the government to stall the Home Delivery of Ration Scheme and reconsider rejection of e-pos-based ration delivery system.

After the government decided to supply ration through Aadhaar Card, rural parts of Delhi witnessed several problems. Nearly 25 lakh people did not get ration, which forced the government to change the decision. Sources in the government said that it faced problems in ration distribution in slums, outskirts and unauthorised colonies.

Later, CM Arvind Kejriwal announced that he would visit slums from next week, along with his MLAS, to tell people that the BJP was scuttling, through the LG, the scheme for doorstep delivery of ration.

He added that the LG did not show the courtesy to call Kejriwal for clarification before turning down the proposal.

“I will go door-to-door in slums and jhuggis and tell the people how BJP is stopping the Delhi government’s doorstep delivery proposal through the LG,” Kejriwal had said.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta said, “This scheme violates the basic tenets of the National Food Security (NFS) Act, 2013, and is also devoid of sound financial, legal and planning principles of good governance.”

However, a statement from the LG’S office observed that Baijal advised that the proposal for home delivery of ration be referred to the Centre with full details, before a final decision is taken.

Adding that the decision on e-pos machines too had not been rejected, the statement said that he had only advised the Delhi government to reconsider the decision because the introduction of e-pos devices to ensure end-to-end computerisation of the targeted public distribution system is a national-level reform for plugging leakages and transparency.