Governor reviews implementation of Food Act

Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 13

The National Food Security Act 2013 is all set to be implemented in the state from February 15.

Governor NN Vohra today reviewed the to-date status of implementation of the Food Act from February 15 at a meeting at Raj Bhawan here.

The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary BR Sharma, Principal Secretary to the Governor PK Tripathi and Secretary, Consumers Affairs and Public Distribution, Saurabh Bhagat.

The Chief Secretary told the Governor that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution had on Friday allocated 34090.94 tonnes of food grains under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and priority categories under the Food Security Act for distribution to entitled households from February 2016 onwards.

The monthly allocation of food grains to the state is 24017.07 tonnes of rice and 10073.87 tonnes of wheat. The AAY and priority households will be given rice at the rate of Rs 3 per kg and wheat at Rs 2 per kg.

In addition, 28499.15 tonnes of food grains have been allocated for meeting the requirement of the tide-over population. It comprises 20077.65 tonnes of rice and 8421.50 tonnes of wheat.

The allotment has cleared the way for the implementation of the Food Security Act.

The Governor was informed that of the 74 lakh beneficiaries under the AAY/ priority household category, the department had uploaded data of 69.89 lakh beneficiary households from 19 districts.

The Governor directed that the process in Srinagar, Leh and Kargil districts should be completed on a war-footing basis.

The Governor was told that the Centre had allocated monthly food grains after J&K reported successful completion of building up a databank of the households in 19 districts, covering a population of about 1.15 crore.

The databank which has been created and hosted on the National PDS portal for 19 districts can be accessed by all.

With the digitisation of the databank, the department will now shift from the existing paper-based ration ticketing system to e-ration ticket. The scheme also envisages use of Aadhaar for eradication of bogus ration cards.

The Governor directed that the Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Department should ensure adequate awareness about the Food Act. He asked the Chief Secretary to draw up a detailed schedule for distribution of ration tickets in various districts by a committee of officers in the presence of people of the area.

The Governor also directed that observers be appointed to confirm that only genuine beneficiaries were included under various categories entitled to receive highly subsidised ration.

The names of the grievance redressal officers along with full contact details for every district/tehsil shall also be duly publicised.

The Governor will formally launch the distribution of ration under the Food Act in the next few days, said a Raj Bhawan spokesperson.