Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister of Eastern Indian state of Odisha Naveen Patnaik on Friday said the Odisha government would take the burden of supplying subsidised rice to the inmates of residential schools run by the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe department of the State.
Patnaik made this announcement while launching the distribution of digitised ration cards among beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act at a function here.
Other ministers distributed the NFSA ration cards in 14 districts.
The state government had been supplying subsidized rice at the rate of Re 1 a kg to all the SC-ST residential schools since 2008. However, there is no provision under the NFSA whether these residential schools could get benefit, a senior official said.
“The State government will take the burden of the expenditure to be made for supply of subsidised rice to SC-ST residential schools,” Patnaik said.
Patnaik said the NFSA ration cards were being issued in the name of elder women members of families in Odisha, which he said indicated his government’s commitment towards woman empowerment.
State’s Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Sanjay Das Burma, said, transparency has been maintained in preparing the list of beneficiaries. Errors, if any, regarding the beneficiaries can be corrected within 3 months.
A total of 3.26 crore beneficiaries will be eligible to get benefits under the NFSA in Odisha, the minister said.
