About 6.71 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of food-grains were allocated under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna (PMGKAY) in Telangana, the Central government informed in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
In a written reply in the lower house, Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, said that Telangana was allocated 7.66 LMT and 6.71 LMT of food-grains during 2020 and 2021, respectively, free of cost under PMGKAY scheme.
Under PMGKAY, the Government of India has made allocation of foodgrains at 5 kg per person per month free of cost for around 80 crore beneficiaries of all the 36 States/UTs covered under National Food Security Act (NFSA), Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Priority Households (PHH) including those covered under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for a period of 8 months, i.e April-November, 2020 and again similarly during the period May-November, 2021.
During the year, 2020, about 322 LMT of food-grains and during the year 2021, about 278 LMT of food-grains have been allocated free of cost under the PMGKAY scheme to approximately 80 crore NFSA beneficiaries, informed the Union Minister.
She further informed that the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) under NFSA, 2013 is operated under the joint responsibility of Central and State/UT Governments and it is the responsibility of the State/UT Governments to identify eligible households/beneficiaries covered under NFSA namely AAY and PHH as per criteria evolved by the concerned State/UT Government.
"Issuance of their ration cards and distribution of foodgrains to them as per their entitlement through fair price shops is also the responsibility of the respective State/UT Government," she added.
Jyoti concluded that a quantity of 11833.00 MT under PMGKAY-I, 26627.21 MT under PMGKAY-II and 6751.45 MT under PMGKAY-III are left undistributed in Telangana and distribution under PMGKAY-IV (July-November, 2021) is not yet over.
( With inputs from ANI )
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