Anna Bhagya: Beneficiaries may get rice from Oct

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The State government may finally be in a position to disburse the extra five kilograms of rice under the Anna Bhagya scheme from October.

Back in mid-June, Food Corporation of India (FCI) had approved the sale of 13,819.485 metric tonnes (MT) of rice but the Union government had blocked the sale of rice by the FCI to states under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMMS Domestic).

This State government had branded the move “politics of hate” and had resorted to sending cash directly to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts in lieu of five kgs of rice thereafter.

The Department of Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs held discussions on purchasing rice from other states. There have also been surveys in districts to see how feasible transition to rice disbursal is.

Food and Civil Supplies Corporation Managing Director Gyanendra Kumar said he remained optimistic about the scheme.

“The government has been paying money instead of the additional 5 kg of rice as it could not procure the necessary rice through the Food Corporation of India. Recently, there have been discussions at higher levels about disbursing five kgs extra rice from October,” Kumar said.

He added that discussions had been ongoing regarding the same and that necessary disclosure by the Food and Civil Supplies Minister KH Muniyappa would come in a few days. He said that procuring rice from states such as Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh was being mooted.

“Minister KH Muniyappa will take a final call on disbursing five kgs of additional rice instead of money from October,” he said.