The Jammu and Kashmir government is implementing National Food Security Act in the state with consumers being allotted ration under the new food act by 15th of this month, Governor NN Vohra’s advisor Parvez Dewan saidon Monday.According to the KNS correspondent, Parvez Dewan who is incharge of the Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution in the state, said the new food act is being implanted in Jammu and Kashmir in near future and that the people shall be provided ration under the NFSA by February 15, this year. “The priority of the government is to provide relief to the people of the state at large and that various measures are being taken to make the governance effective in Jammu and Kashmir,” Dewan said.
Earlier, the implementation of NFSA in Jammu and Kashmir had snowballed into a major controversy with the PDP-BJP coalition government receiving brickbats from the Congress and national conference as well separatists who termed the Act as “anti-people.”Earlier, there were reports that the state’s CAPD department discarded issuance of ration tickets to citizens, citing lesser allocation of food grains as per Census 2001. But during the past one decade, the population of Jammu and Kashmir has increased from 1,01,43,700 in 2001 to 1,25,48,926 in 2011 which subsequently has resulted in increase of families requiring separate ration tickets.Apprehensions were raised that if the much hyped NFSA is implemented on ground, there are thousands of families in J&K which don’t have ration cards and they would have to wait till they get the ration tickets to lay hands on the PDS ration. (KNS)