A Gujarat-based civil rights leader has sought the intervention of the Gujarat government to ensure that the above poverty line (APL) ration card holders as also the poorer sections who do not have any ration card be distributed foodgrains under the existing schemes floated by the Government of India for the period between April and June.
Regretting that this has not happened for the month of April, Majahid Nafees, convener, Minority Coordination Committee (MCC), in a letter to the state food and civil supplies secretary, said, in the order of the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) No 42/2020, dated April 3, 2020, the Gujarat High Court had ordered that foodgrains should be been provided to all APL category of cardholders as well “at par with the Priority House Hold (PHH) card holders”.
The letter said, under the existing schemes, the state is obliged to offer an additional 5 kg of foodgrains per person, objecting to the current state government argument that this quantity of ration has been reserved only for the the residents of states, who have had to stay back following the lock down.
It is already two weeks since the country locked down following the cononavirus outbreak, yet large sections of the poor have not been able to get their foodgrains quota at the fair price shops, the letter regretted, adding, it is the duty of the state government to ensure that no one sleeps hungry in Gujarat.
While the entire country is struggling with the coronavirus, and the nation has been locked down, the letter said, the poor people, especially daily wage workers, have been affected the most, even though schemes are in place, floated by the Central and state governments, to ensure that none goes hungry.
Pointing out that there is little reason why the food cannot offered, Nafees said, the schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, Ann Brahm Yojana and Antyodaya Anna Yojana are in place to ensure that the poorest households are not left out.
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