Karnataka - Bangalore

Centre to cut allocation of PDS foodgrains

Special Correspondent

Government to ensure that BPL families are not affected

BANGALORE: The Centre has decided to reduce the quota of foodgrains allocated to the State under the public distribution system, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy told the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

Replying to a debate on floods in various parts of the State, he said the Union Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Ministry had written to the Government on the reduction of foodgrains allocated to families living below the poverty line (BPL) and above the poverty line.

Karnataka ranks next to Andhra Pradesh in having the highest number of BPL families. As many as 63.17 per cent of families in the State fall in the BPL category. The figure for Andhra Pradesh is 67.45 per cent.

Stating that elected representatives too were responsible for the faulty distribution of BPL ration cards, the Chief Minister said some mechanism would be worked out to restore the quantity of foodgrains for BPL families. “We will discuss with the Finance Department on what steps need to be taken to supply the same quantity of rations to BPL families,” he said. The Government had distributed BPL cards to about 72 lakh families.

Minister for Home M.P. Prakash said the Government would have to buy rice and wheat from the open market to make up for the reduction in the quota for the State, which would increase the burden on the exchequer.

The Former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the Government had to make some arrangement since it had made a commitment to supply rice and wheat at Rs. 3 a kg to BPL families. He said a large number of APL families had obtained BPL cards.

The Chief Minister, referring to the criticism of his village stay programme, said people in rural areas had received it well and he had received many invitations to stay in villages. “It is not a publicity programme as is being made out by the Opposition. I request all political leaders to join me and stay overnight in villages. Neither staying in villages nor the Janata Darshan is easy. We have to find a way out to solve people’s problems at the local level.”

He expressed anguish over the degeneration in politics and said even the allotment of houses for the poor under the Ashraya scheme was being finalised on political lines. “During one of my village visits, a poor man met me and said he was being denied an Ashraya house because he was a supporter of the Janata Dal (S), and the local legislator belonged to another party. I told him to shift his political loyalties, which could get him a house. He refused to do so.”

On the charge that government schools and colleges were being sanctioned only in certain areas such as Ramanagaram (the Chief Minister’s constituency), Shikaripur (the Deputy Chief Minister’s constituency) and Holenarsipur (the Public Works Minister’s constituency), Mr. Kumaraswamy said he was ready to place all facts before the legislature. The Government had sanctioned a record 159 first grade colleges in all parts of the State this year, he said.

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