Minister of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CA&PD), Choudhary Zulfkar Ali today said the National Food Security Act (NFSA) will go a long way in streamlining the ration distribution system in J&K as everybody, except affluent class, will get subsidized ration.Addressing a press conference here, Mr Zulfkar said a record 74.13 lakh souls comprising 60 percent of the state’s population will get subsidized rations under NFSA. These people will get rice at the rate of Rs 3 per kg, wheat at the rate of Rs 2 per kg and coarse grain at the rate of Re 1 per kg from CA&PD depots, he said.Zulfkar said another 45 lakh people would be provided wheat @ Rs 8 per kg and rice @ Rs 10 per kg. He said the total coverage will reach 1.19 crores out of the total population of 1.25 crores.“74.13 lakh people comprising the priority class include laborers, landless class, artisans and other poor people. We will ensure that each and every one of them gets ration every month,” the Minister said.
The Minister said only six lakh people will be excluded from getting subsidized rations, because of their high purchasing power. These six lakh people include super rich, income tax payers, gazetted officers and landholders with more than 80 kanals of landholding individually and 250 kanals jointly. “This class also includes chief minister, ministers, legislators and judges,” he said. “Some of them pay income tax above Rs 30 lakh and they don’t need or qualify for subsidized rations, which will now go exclusively to poor people.”The Minister said that the people enrolled under AAY would continue to get rations at the scale of 35 kgs per family irrespective of the family strength.The Minister said NFSA has already become a huge success as out of 25.66 lakh forms distributed in Jammu and Srinagar, CA&PD has received 21.94 lakh forms. “These people have already been enrolled and their data uploaded,” said Mr Zulfkar.Stressing on accountability under NFSA, the Minister said that any person who is denied ration shall be compensated according to the Food Security Allowance through an inbuilt mechanism, which has been incorporated in the Act at the state level.
He said NFSA will also help in stopping the pilferage of ration.“There will be complete transparency as the list of ration holders would be put in public domain for everybody to see,” Mr Zulfkar said.The state will continue to receive 7.51 lakh metric tons of rice from Government of India and there will be no reduction in the quota.Free ration will also be provided to pregnant and lactating women during the period of their pregnancy and lactation, the Minister said. The women will also be entitled to Rs 6000 allowance for taking other dietary supplements.The Minister said that the government is working to streamline the ration distribution network by taking number of measures like computerization of whole process, finger print verification and establishing of state level Food Commission. Government of India has already approved Rs 20 crore for food chain management in the state.