Inordinate delay in distribution of additional rations to Delhi poor: Letter to Kejriwal

Counterview Desk
In a letter to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, the civil rights organization, Delhi Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyan (DRRAA), has regretted that despite passage of three weeks following the announcement by the Central government on March 26, the distribution of additional five kg of foodgrains and one kg of pulses fee of cost through public distribution system (PDS) has not taken place.
“Given the extension of the lockdown, the situation is alarming in Delhi with millions of people facing hunger and destitution”, the letter said, demanding "immediate procurement of the additional rations and distribute them."

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On March 26, 2020, the union Finance Minister announced that as part of the Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Yojana, the Central government will provide 5 kgs additional foodgrains per person free of cost to the 80 crore people covered under the PDS for the months of April to June. In addition, the FM announced that 1 kg pulses would be provided free of cost to all households covered under the PDS.
Following the announcement, on March 30, 2020, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution issued an office memorandum and an additional communication regarding the modalities of the operationalisation of this scheme. As per the annexure to the additional communication, 1.09 lakh metric tonne of grains has been allocated for Delhi.

We are extremely concerned to note that despite passage of nearly three weeks since the announcement was made by the Central government, the distribution of additional foodgrains and pulses has not taken place in Delhi. According to a press release dated April 9, 2020 issued by the Government of India, the Delhi government had not even lifted the additional earmarked stock.

It is important to note that this grain is to be provided over and above the existing entitlement. In

Given the extension of the lockdown, the situation is alarming in Delhi with millions of people facing hunger and destitution

Delhi, therefore, each person with a ration card has to be provided 12.5 kgs of foodgrains for the month of April (5 kg in addition to the existing entitlement of 7.5 kgs) and each family has to be given 1kg pulses free of cost. This would go a long way in helping families covered under the PDS cope with hunger.
Given the extension of the lockdown, the situation is alarming in Delhi with millions of people facing hunger and destitution. At a time when far more extensive measures such as universalisation of PDS are needed, it is shocking that even the existing allocations are not being distributed by the government.
The Delhi government must immediately procure and distribute the additional allocation of foodgrains and pulses.

We reiterate the urgent need to ensure public disclosure of records regarding distribution of grain to prevent diversion at this critical time.
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Signed by: Anjali Bhardwaj, Annie Raja, Dipa Sinha, Amrita Johri, Ashok Kumar, Rajender Kumar, Ravinder Kumar, Aditi Dewedi, Gitanjali Prasad, Ankita Aggarwal, Nawasha Mishra, Deepti Bharti, Koninika Ray, Armaan Mullick Alkazi, Apeksha Priyadarshini, Abdul Shakeel, Neelesh Kumar, Aakanksha Badkur, Aysha Sagarika Ghatak, Indrani Talukdar, Chirashree Ghosh, Pratik Aggarwal, Aneesha Ranjan, Shreya Sen, Sweta Dash, Aruna Sinha, Aditya Shrivastava, Amit Kumar, Nandini Nayak, Amreen Farooq

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