Mann announces doorstep ration delivery, Kejriwal says all states will soon want it

Announcing the scheme through a video message, Mann said the ration, being supplied to BPL families under the atta-dal scheme, will now reach their doorstep. He, however, added that the scheme will be optional for the eligible beneficiaries.

“The AAP government has decided to start the doorstep delivery of ration scheme. Under the scheme, good quality ration items will be delivered at the beneficiaries’ doorstep and no one will now need to stand in queues or leave his work for this. Our officers will make a phone call to the beneficiaries and ration will be delivered at their homes as per their convenience and availability,” said Mann.

Stating that the scheme is optional, Mann said if the depot is close to a beneficiary’s home, they may fetch the ration from there.

Mann said the Arvind Kejriwal government had started this scheme in Delhi too, “but unfortunately it was stopped. But in Punjab we are going to implement this scheme and we will run it successfully”.

In Delhi, Kejriwal said once the Punjab government implements the policy, citizens in others states too will “start demanding” it.

“In Delhi, we have been struggling to implement this. We had done all the planning, but the BJP-run Centre stopped us from implementing it…but as they say, you cannot stop an idea whose time has come. They did not let us do it in Delhi, we will do it in Punjab,” said Kejriwal.

The Centre and AAP regime in Delhi have been at loggerheads over the implementation of the scheme, with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution writing to the state government on several occasions, saying that a provision for delivery of ration to homes does not exist in the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. Centre has told the Delhi government that it had no objection to the scheme if the government buys ration from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and distributes it, but using grain given to the state under NFSA would be illegal.

Punjab, however, had tweaked the NFSA to provide wheat flour at Rs 2 per kg and dal (black gram) at Rs 20 per kg to 1.54 crore individual beneficiaries and 43 lakh families under the Atta-Dal Scheme. Currently, instead of flour, wheat is supplied once in three months to beneficiaries. The government has not been able provide pulses due to paucity of funds.

Mann said it was sad that even 75 years after Independence, the poor and common people still have to stand in long queues outside ration depots to get their ration. In this age of digitalization, various items of daily needs including food items, are delivered at people’s doorsteps at one phone call, he said.

“But on many occasions, poor people, most of whom are daily wagers, have to give up their day’s work for taking ration (from fair price shops). How sad it is that a person who is living hand to mouth, has to leave his day’s work to fetch ration,” said Mann, adding that people now will get rid of all these things.

“Governments are for the people, they are elected by the people and governments should be to facilitate people and not to harass them or create problems for them.

“You (beneficiaries) will get good quality ration, what people consume, what rich consume, you will get the same flour, pulses..,” he said.

While Mann went ahead with the announcement, officials in Punjab feel that implementing would be a trickier proposition. “The state government is already supplying foodgrains to elderly and the physically challenged. The rest have to physically take their supplies from ration depots,” a government functionary said.

“Having 43 lakh families as beneficiaries, one can imagine the logistics involved in the home delivery. The department of Food and Civil Supplies does not have enough employees to undertake this operation. Also, the ration depot holders will seek more money, besides their commission to perform this task. The state spend 40 paise per km on supplying grains to ration depots. Half of the transportation cost is borne by the Centre. There are about 26,000 ration depot holders in Punjab. If the state government employees starts home delivery of ration, then what would happen to those depots,” asked another official.

Yet another official, however, added that the doorstep delivery could also be the government’s way of conducting a social audit amid reports that the state’s scheme had many fake beneficiaries. “The scheme would help weed them out,” the official added.

(With Mallica Joshi, Delhi)