Bihar Food and Consumer Protection Minister Madan Sahni has, in a letter to Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, stressed on the need for allocation of additional 75,000 metric tonnes of grains for 30 lakh new ration card beneficiaries in the state.
The letter comes in response to Paswan's statement that the data on ration beneficiaries as provided by the Bihar government will be taken into consideration after the 2021 census.
The Centre has asked the state government to put a list of remaining 14,04,000 beneficiaries on the Public Distribution System (PDS) portal.
On this, Sahni said that as per the 2011 census, the allocation of food grains is being received from the Centre but names of 30 lakh people have been added in the ration list as Bihar's population has increased.
"In the present situation, due to the increase in the population of Bihar, 30 lakh new families have been named in new data. The figures in Bihar are correct. This calculation has taken place at two levels. This work has been done by the Jeevika Sangathan in villages and the Ministry of Urban Development in cities," said Bihar Minister in a statement.
Also, the physical verification of the beneficiaries who have applied under the Right to Bihar Public Sector Counter has been done by the government, he said, adding that the data is factually correct and the state needs food grains for 30 lakh new beneficiaries at a time of corona crisis.
Citing the ration beneficiaries data from 2016 to 2020, he said under the PDS, Bihar has issued cards to eligible beneficiaries in a transparent manner through the online Ration Card Management System (RCMS).As far as sending the list of these enhanced beneficiaries is concerned, it is being sent by National Informatics Centre to the Central Repository of the Department of Food and Public Distribution of Union Ministry, he said.
The Bihar Minister also appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pay attention to the matter and provide the poor people of Bihar their rights during the ongoing crisis.
( With inputs from ANI )