PDS slips in Bengal will now give details of Centre-state share in food subsidy

Kolkata: The Public Distribution System (PDS) beneficiaries in West Bengal will get to know of the Centre's and the state's share in food subsidy every time they visit the ration shops to purchase their quotas of food items.

Sources from the state food & supplies department said that the PDS-slips that are provided to the consumers against purchase of ration, henceforth will contain the break-up of shares borne by the Union and the state governments in the subsidy provided on food items.

At the same time, the PDS slips will also contain the logo of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, the use of which on such slips has already been made mandatory by the Union government.

“Some other states have already introduced the system of giving details of the Centre-state share in food subsidy. Now it is turn for West Bengal to introduce this system,” a state food & supplies department official said.

He explained that since both state and Union governments are bearing the cost of the subsidy, every PDS consumer has the right to know which of the two parties is bearing what percentage of that cost.

“There is no place for misconception. That is why the decision has been taken to mention the respective shares of both the Union and state government at the PDS slips,” the department official said.

The development is quite significant in the backdrop of sustained complaints by the state unit of BJP in West Bengal that in most cases, the Trinamool Congress-ruled state government shows Centrally-sponsored schemes as the state’s own schemes and takes credit for that.

On the other hand, the complaint of Trinamool Congress had been that in development or welfare schemes where the state government too shares the burden of expenditure, it is unjust that the credit for it will only go in favour of the Union government.

Currently, around 8.81 crore of consumers are covered under the PDS scheme in West Bengal.