Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri Saturday alleged that people here have not got their ration under the Food Security Act for the month of March even though the Centre provides it for more than 72 lakh people of the city.
In a statement, the BJP leader said that it is the responsibility of the Delhi government to distribute this ration to the public.
The charge has been denied by the Aam Aadmi Party government.
Bidhuri said the Central government provides four kgs of wheat and one kg of rice to 72.77 lakh ration card holders of Delhi under the Food Security Act for just Rs 11.
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Apart from this, under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, 4 kgs of wheat and one kg of rice are being given free of cost by the Central government since the outbreak of Coronavirus.
"The Delhi government is not able to lift this grain. Surprisingly, the central government also bears the cost of transporting this ration to the poor and pays the commission of the ration shopkeepers. Despite this, the Delhi government has failed to fulfil even its small responsibility," Bidhuri alleged in a statement.
He alleged that all the ministers of Delhi including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal are busy on political tours in other states, not worried about the poor people here.
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"The Delhi government is deliberately doing this so that it can defame the Central government. He said that it is a matter of shame that Kejriwal is bent on starving the poor to do his politics," Bidhuri said in a statement.
Responding to the allegations, the AAP government said that baseless rumours were being spread by BJP leaders.
"The Kejriwal government has already supplied 100% of SFAs (specified food articles) at FPSs (fair price shops) under NFSA (National Food Security Act) for March. No beneficiaries will be deprived of getting free ration in Delhi," Delhi Food and Supply Minister Imran Hussain said in a statement.
He said that sufficient ration is available and there is no need to panic in obtaining the ration.
"Transporters deliberately delaying any supply will face strictest of the action. Appeal to the Centre to accept Kejriwal Government's request and increase the number of ration beneficiaries of Delhi under NFSA to 80 lakhs," the minister said in the statement.
The minister said that "rumours" regarding delay in the supply of foodgrain for the allocation month of March 2022 under NFSA, and not increasing the number of trucks for supply of food grains from FCI godowns to the designated FPSs are not true.
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The minister also sought a detailed report from the Commissioner (Food & Civil Supplies) and CMD (DSCSC) in connection with these rumours.
The statement said that Delhi State Civil Supplies Corporation (DSCSC) ascertained that it is totally false statement that the Corporation has not supplied SFAs at 600 FPSs pertaining to March 2022 allocation under NFSA.
"The DSCSC has already supplied 370663.46 quintals (i.e. 99.14%) of SFAs to FPSs under NFSA allocation for the month of March against the total allocation of 373885.70 quintals upto April 8, 2022," the statement said
