New Delhi: The central government has established a halt to the Delhi government’s determined doorstep distribution of ration scheme. To discuss the matter, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold a press conference at 11 am on Sunday. According to sources, the Delhi government’s project was fixed to be started in a couple of days and all the introductory work had been completed. The Kejriwal-led Delhi government had intended to give ration to 72 lakh needy beneficiaries at their homes. According to the Delhi government, this would benefit people particularly in light of the current Covid-19 situation.
“The scheme was stopped by the Centre on the basis that its approval was not sought and given before implementation,” sources said. The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi also refused the file for implementation of the project because of a continuing court trial, an official statement from the chief minister’s office said. On this, Delhi’s Food Minister Imran Hussain stated, “No approval for launching such a scheme is required as per existing law. Citing an ongoing court case, wherein no stay has been ordered by the courts, to stop the rollout of such a revolutionary scheme makes it clear that this decision is politically motivated.”
Recently, the Centre asked the Delhi administration not to execute the scheme, stating it is “not permissible” to use subsidized food grain distributed under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) for the project. The central government declared that those grains cannot be used for the operationalization of any state-specific scheme under another name/classification other than NFSA as the same is not sanctioned under the Act. However, the Centre will have no rejection if the Delhi government appears out with a different system without combining the components of the NFSA, the government’s letter had said.
Responding to this, the AAP said it is intensely saddening that the central government has urged the Delhi government to hold the scheme which was to be started on March 25. The Kejriwal-led government then withdrew the original name of the scheme, Mukhyamantri Ghar Ghar Ration Yojana, due to the Centre’s complaint and determined to perform doorstep delivery of ration as part of the current NFS Act, 2013. The government proposed the file for final endorsement but has now been postponed by the Centre again.
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Under the project, every ration beneficiary would get 4 kg wheat flour (atta), 1 kg rice, and sugar per person at the comfort of their homes instead of from fair price shops. The ration would be given in the hygienically packaged form. The scheme aims to tackle problems that plague ration delivery in India currently, the Delhi government said. This involves ration shops being found closed during working hours, poor variety of foodgrains, less ration given by ration dealers, several trips to ration shops, and ration being redirected into the black market.
The fresh scheme intended to cut short several trips made by beneficiaries to ration shops and local millers by giving hygienically packaged ration to the beneficiaries at their homes. This would also set a halt to the ration mafia, the Kejriwal-led government said.
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