Food Security Act to ease Punjab’s dal ‘blues’
No dal being supplied since Dec to 15.4 lakh blue card families; Act to clear Rs 1593-cr pending bill.
The NDA may see UPA’s attempt to push the Food Security Bill as a “poll stunt”,but its partner SAD is not complaining. The cash-starved state,which has failed to supply dal to the 15.4 lakh families under its populist atta-dal scheme since December last year,is struggling to keep the scheme afloat.
With the Food Security Act estimated to cover 67 per cent of Punjab’s population of 2.7 crore,the state expects entire 15.4 lakh blue card families to fall under its ambit. This will help Punjab save the amount spent on procuring wheat — each blue card family is entitled to 35 kg of wheat. The Rs 350 crore allocated to the scheme every year in the state budget can go towards procuring dals and pay off dues of government agencies.
Interestingly,the state is pegging its saving at Rs 350 crore when the budgetary allocation was not even reaching Punsup — the nodal agency running the scheme. Ever since the blue card scheme was floated in August 2007 by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal,it has plunged the four state procurement agencies — Punsup,Markfed,Punjab Agro and Punjab State Warehousing Corporation — into debt by forcing them to resort to loans. As of June 2013,the food and civil supply department owes the four agencies Rs 1,593 crore for procuring wheat and pulses for the scheme.
Yet,the pulses stopped coming to atta-dal families since December last year,as the department failed to issue tenders owing to paucity of funds. According to the department,supply of pulses will be resumed from July as Rs 30 crore have been sanctioned last month by the finance department. Procuring pulses for the scheme costs the state Rs 90 crore annually. Punjab allocates 500 gm per family member,which works out to 2.5 kg for a family of five at Rs 20 per kg.
“The impact of Food Security Bill on Punjab’s atta-dal scheme can only be gauged after it is enacted. A lot will depend on the criteria decided by the Union government. We will continue to supply dal to the 15.4 lakh families and look into enlarging its scope by including more items in the food basket,” Secretary (Food)
D S Grewal said.
Credited as “poll-winning” scheme by the opposition Congress,the Badal government has already bestowed more largesse on atta-dal families in the last two budgets. They have been included in various new and old schemes,including those of the Centre such as entitlement to kerosene under public distribution system (PDS). This budget,the government also announced houses,scholarships for girls and medical insurance for atta-dal families. Since the Food Security Act will cover more than half of state’s population,approximately 98 lakh well-to-do families will be left out of PDS.
Another gain Punjab is counting on from the Act is easing off of its foodgrain storage crisis.
The state is forced to resort to unscientific storage of wheat every procurement season resulting in high cost of incidentals,pilferage and damage to stocks.
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