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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Won’t foot food bill: States -Dipak Kumar Dash

Won’t foot food bill: States -Dipak Kumar Dash

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published Published on Oct 2, 2013   modified Modified on Oct 2, 2013
-The Times of India


NEW DELHI: Several states want the Centre to foot the bill for all associated expenses such as transportation and commission to ration shops under the Food Security Act when it takes the credit for the scheme. Almost all states including Congress-ruled ones asked the Centre to bear these expenses which is estimated to be around Rs 10,000 crore annually.

While most states represented by food ministers on Tuesday said the Centre should bear the entire expense, Uttarakhand wanted 90% central share of such expenses. State food ministers came down heavily on the Centre for not deciding this issue upfront before asking them to expedite launch of the scheme. "How can we have an Act without setting things clear on who shares what," Punjab's representative said.

Though 22 states participated in the meeting, three BJP-ruled ones - Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh - did not send their ministers. Food minister K V Thomas said, "States have their opinion and we have ours. We will resolve the issue." He said a committee has been formed to address concerns. He added about 50% states including BJP-ruled ones will launch the scheme by this year-end.

Earlier, leading the attack, Uttar Pradesh food minister Rajendra Chaudhary charged the government with bringing the law "hurriedly" for political gain and "hosting the notification on the web" without putting in place a system to ensure that the poor got foodgrain and there was no diversion of subsidized grains to the open market. "Include states' concerns in your list of concerns," he added.

Chaudhary asked the Centre to bear 100% additional expenses on all accounts including transportation, handling, commission to ration shop owners and setting up of consumer redressal mechanism. He also sought funds in advance for implementation of the law. UP is the biggest gainer of the central law. Another state government official said that when the Centre is using the scheme for political dividend and can spend huge on food subsidy why can't it pay little more for other expenses.

UPA's new-found friend JD(U) did not leave the opportunity to put forward its list of demands. Bihar food minister Shyam Rajak said the Centre should bear the entire expenditure on end-to-end computerization of the distribution system.

Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh demanded that the Centre should allocate 1.6 lakh tonnes of additional rice per month to meet its demand. State food minister Sridhar Basu said if the Centre did not help, then the state would end up spending Rs 3,000 crore annually, which would impact its other social security programmes.

He asked the Centre to bear the entire expense for inter-state transport of foodgrain. The state also demanded inclusion of pulses and oil in the allocation to each poor family, a demand which came from other states including Punjab.

The list of demands from states seems to be increasing with Himachal Pradesh asking the Centre to bear the expenses for "making wheat to flour".


The Times of India, 2 October, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Wont-foot-food-bill-States/articleshow/23374602.cms


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