'Failed government' in Telangana, 5 kg ration under PM-GKAY was not distributed since April: Piyush Goyal

Union Food Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday hit out at the ruling TRS in Telangana terming its government as "failed" which has "taken away the rights of the poor" and said it did not distribute additional 5 kg ration under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY) since April.

Goyal told the media persons here the Centre wrote several letters and spoke to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi government but they "continued not to dispense" the ration.

Food Corporation of India had earlier hit a pause on rice procurement from Telangana due to "state government irregularities".

Goyal, who is Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, said the decision was taken with a heavy heart and accused the state government of being "insensitive" and "merciless".

"It is with a very heavy heart I had to stop it because the Telangana government is such a merciless and insensitive government that the decision of the Prime Minister to provide 5 kg extra foodgrains under the PM-GKAY during the COVID pandemic, the state government was not implementing that decision since April. No government can do a bigger injustice than depriving the poor of their rights," Goyal said.

Goyal said some mills were found to have poor storage during the audit and the state government did not act despite the Centre's reminder to do so.

"Only using foul language against the Prime Minister and all of us does not do any good to the public. People are benefitted when the Centre takes care of the poor. The state government should have implemented the scheme honestly. We wrote several letters, spoke with them but they continued to not dispense. They have taken away the rights of the poor. Besides, some mills were found during the audit to have poor storage of the rice. Some mixture was found. The state governmnet was asked to act against it, they did not do that also," he said.

The Union Minister, however, added that the state government, following pressure from the Centre to resume the implementation of the scheme, has distributed the foodgrains for the month of June and has "promised to do the same for July as well".

"It is a failed government in the state of Telangana. We had to put a lot of pressure on the state government to resume it. They have distributed the grains for the month of June and have promised to do the same for July as well. I expect that the rights of the poor will be given to them," he said.

The Union Cabinet had in March this year extended PM-GKAY for another six months till September 2022.

Under the extended PM-GKAY, each beneficiary is entitled to additional 5 kg free ration per person per month in addition to his normal quota of foodgrains under the National Food Security Act.

It means every poor household is entitled to nearly double the normal quantity of ration.

FCI in several letters to K Chandrashekar Rao-led government had reminded it to address issues immediately and furnish an action-taken report "after multiple irregularities were found in the physical verification of the mills".

The FCI found that the TRS government, despite having lifted a considerable quantity of rice from the central pool had not distributed it among the beneficiaries.

The state lifted 1.90 lakh tonnes from Decentralized Procurement Scheme stocks during April and May, sources had told ANI.

In March this year, a list of defaulter millers where shortages of rice had been noticed was communicated to the state government and it was asked to take immediate actions. As many as 453,896 bags of paddy were found short in a total of 40 mills, sources said.

Again in May, shortages of another 137,872 bags were noticed in 63 mills.

During verification of the rice stocks, a central team alleged that the paddy was not stored in a countable position due to which the physical verification of stocks could not be completed due to the lack of proper bookkeeping and standard operating procedures by the defaulting millers.

In a recent letter addressed to the Civil Supplies Department of the Government of Telangana, the Centre's decision to put on hold rice procurement was enumerated with the reason behind it.

"Despite considerable time period has lapsed, till date no concrete strict action has been taken by the state government in above regard against default millers where shortages have been noticed," FCI letter said.

Taking into consideration the inaction by the state government against defaulter millers and non-distribution of PMGKAY foodgrains, the FCI informed that there would be no further rice receipts in the central pool till further orders.

( With inputs from ANI )

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