Cong government not providing Anna Bhagya rice: GT Deve Gowda

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: J D(S) on Monday took aim at the State government, accusing it of lying about the implementation of its five guarantees.

The claims were made by the JD(S) MLA from Chamundeshwari and party core committee chairman GT Deve Gowda, party leader YSV Datta, MLC BM Farooque, Kupendra Reddy and others.

The five guarantees include Gruha Jyoti Yojane which promises under 200 units of electricity to every household, Gruha Lakshmi Yojane (to be launched on August 27) under which Rs2,000 would be wired every month to “woman head of every household” and revival of the Anna Bhagya scheme that promises 10 kgs of rice monthly to Below Poverty Line (BPL) card holders.

The other two guarantees are Rs1,500 a month to diploma holders between jobs, besides free government bus travel for women under the Shakti scheme and Yuva Nidhi Yojana, which promises Rs3,000 monthly allowance for unemployed graduates and Rs1,500 for diploma holders belonging to the 2022-23 academic year.

The latter is the only guarantee that hasn’t been implemented yet. Deve Gowda alleged that the State government had failed to provide 10 kilograms free of cost to Below Poverty Line (BPL) card holders, a promise made under the Anna Bhagya scheme.

He pointed out that the beneficiaries were only getting five kgs of rice from the Centre in addition to cash from the State.

“The Narendra Modi government, which has been providing five kilograms since the corona era, is continuing to this day. Apart from that, you haven’t provided any rice,” Gowda said.

It is to be noted that BPL card holders already get five kgs of free rice under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). The State government promised another five kgs from their end and had sought to buy rice from Food Corporation of India (FCI) under Open Market Sale Scheme (OMMS) to that effect.

A controversy had erupted on June 9 when the Congress government wrote to FCI requesting 13,819.485 metric tonnes (MT) of rice. The subsequent reply came on June 12 approving the same.

However, the Centre on June 13 wrote to FCI ordering them to stop the sale of grains.