KL NEWS NETWORK

SRINAGAR

The Jammu and Kashmir government Tuesday said that the decision about the implementation of National Food Security Act (NFSA) in the state will not be taken until Government of India agrees to provide ration as pert census of 2011.

“We will not implement the National Food Security Act until the government of India will provide us ration as per the census 2011,” CAPD minister Choudhary Zulfkar Ali told KNS over phone.

Despite an increase in number of families from 18.2 lakh in 2001 to 22.3 lakhs in 2011, the state continues to receive food grains as per previous census, he said. “I have apprised Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan about the matter and I hope we will be able to distribute ration as per census 2011 from September,” he added.

It is to mention here that the Government of India has made it clear that unless NFSA was implemented, the state will not get food grains as per 2011 census. It has asked the several states, which has so far resisted implementation of NFSA, to complete the necessary formalities and implement the act by September end.

As per the government of India, allocation of food grains under Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) is made to the states which have implemented the Act.

While the J&K state has not implemented the Act, it is being hitherto allocated food grains as per census population of 2001 at 35 kg per family per month for the Below Poverty Line (BPL), Antodaya Anna Yogna (AAY) as well as Above Poverty Line (APL) families.

The minister further told KNS that that the government will also soon start electronic public distribution system (EPDS) including installation of GPS trackers in vehicles carrying food grains, to ensure transparency and accountability in the Public Distribution System (PDS) and control pilferage.

“We will soon start ePDS in the state. The Government of India has agreed to give 90% share to the modernization of the Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CA&PD) Department of state,” Zulfkar said.

He said that under the modernization programme, end-to-end computerization of public distribution system, digitalization of data, computerization of supply demand and management, setting up of transparency portal will be started.

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