Uttam to public reps: Dine with fine rice beneficiaries a la CM Revanth
The Civil Supplies Minister addresses a video conference from Jala Soudha with MPs, MLAs and MLCs
Hyderabad: Civil Supplies Minister Uttam Kumar urged public representatives to dine with beneficiaries of fine rice scheme on the lines of CM Revanth Reddy’s act, who had lunch with the beneficiary family of fine rice scheme during his recent visit to Bhadrachalam.
Addressing a video conference from Jala Soudha with MPs, MLAs and MLCs, he urged them to take the message to every household and dine at the homes of beneficiaries. He also asked them to forcefully counter the misinformation campaign being run by BRS leaders through different means including social media. Allaying apprehensions, he reassured that every eligible person would be given a ration card. Moreover, he directed the officials to personally visit households to ensure no eligible family is excluded.
Dismissing the criticism of BJP and BRS, he clarified that the Centre was providing only 5 kg of coarse rice in limited quantities, while it was the Congress-led Telangana government that was giving 6 kg of fine rice per beneficiary by spending over Rs 13,000 crore a year. He said nearly 3.10 crore people, around 84 percent of Telangana’s population, would benefit from the scheme. He said it was misleading to give credit to the Centre, as it was giving money only for coarse rice. But the fine rice, which is of higher quality and preferred by families, is being procured and distributed by the State government.
Uttam Kumar Reddy informed that the government would distribute 30 lakh metric tonnes of fine rice every year and the cost of this initiative would be around Rs 13,523 crore annually. At present, the Centre and State together spend Rs 10,665 crore on public distribution. With the expansion of beneficiaries, this cost would increase by nearly Rs 2,858 crore, taking Telangana’s share to Rs 8,033 crore. He said the government was fully prepared to bear this burden to ensure food security for all.
The Minister pointed out that Telangana had 89.73 lakh white ration cards at the time of state formation. In the ten years of BRS rule, only 49,479 net new cards were issued. There was no serious effort to add new members to existing cards. Under the Congress government, close to 30 lakh new applications have already been received and are under process. Once verified, these new cards will raise the number of beneficiaries to 3.10 crore.
