Date:13/05/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/05/13/stories/2005051312190500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

`YSR takes up rice issue with Centre'

Staff Reporter

Ministers complain of poor quality

CUDDAPAH: The Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has taken up with the Centre the need to release better quality rice under the National Food For Work Programme (NFFWP), the Minister for Technical Education, N. Narasimha Reddy, said on Thursday.

The Ministers had, at a recent Cabinet meeting, complained that the rice received from the Centre was of low quality and the beneficiaries were not willing to accept it, Mr. Reddy said during a review meeting of the 30-day Praja Patham programme here.

`Unfit for consumption'

The Vemula ZPTC member, M. Raja Reddy, drew the Minister's attention to the fact that no beneficiary was accepting the rice offered under the programme as it was reportedly unfit for consumption.

The rice might not be even worth Rs. 4 a kg, Mr. Raja Reddy said. People were questioning people's representatives on the poor quality of rice being supplied in the Chief Minister's native district, Cuddapah, he said.

Rice supplied to other districts was better, he said but the Minister described it as a misconception.

Injustice seen

Mr. Raja Reddy complained of injustice being done by the Centre in releasing funds to the district.

The district, whose population was 26 lakhs, was sanctioned Rs. 32 crores under the NFFWP, but Ranga Reddy district was allotted Rs. 68 crores, though its population was around 25 crores, he said.

Mr. Ranjan said Cuddapah district was sanctioned the least number of houses under the Indira Awas Yojana, much less than some smaller districts.

Data pertaining to Cuddapah such as population, poverty level and seasonal conditions might not have been updated in the Union Rural Development Ministry and hence the mismatch, he said.