'Bihar should give free grain to flood-hit NFSA beneficiaries'

Union Minister and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan today asked the Bihar government to provide foodgrains free of cost to the beneficiaries covered under National Food Security Act (NFSA) in flood-affected areas for the next six months.
"The state government, which provides wheat at Rs 2 per kg and rice at Rs 3 per kg under National Food Security Act, should give free of cost grains to the beneficiaries of flood-affected areas for next six months," Paswan said.
Paswan, Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister, was talking to PTI before departing to meet the flood victims of his Lok Sabha constituency Hajipur.

He said that his ministry has provided 20,000 tonnes of grains to Bihar immediately after receiving letter from the state government.
He said that the Centre would provide more grains if Bihar made a formal demand in this regard.
Out of 10 crore of Bihar's population, 8.71 crore are the beneficiaries under the Food Security Act, a Food Corporation of India official statement said.

Under the NFSA, grains are provided to the beneficiaries under two categories - Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Priority Household (PHH).
Under AAY, every beneficiary family gets 35 kgs of rice and wheat every month whereas under PHH, every individual beneficiary gets three kgs of rice and 2 kgs of wheat per month, the statement said.

Paswan's cabinet colleague Ravi Shankar Prasad yesterday asked the Bihar government to submit a memorandum at the earliest on the damages caused by floods in the state.
Centre would provide all kind of help to Bihar to deal with the flood situation, Prasad had said after visiting flood-affected areas and relief camps in Patna.