Darjeeling CPI(M) slams state govt's ration policy in Hills

The CPI(M)'s Darjeeling unit today alleged the ruling Trinamool Congress government is discriminating against the people of Hills in its ration policy.
"Earlier each individual would get 13.2 Kgs of Rice, Sugar, Wheat and Atta (flour) in a month... Now the government only gives 11 kg per person in which they give 6 Kgs of rice and 5 kgs of Atta... The TMC government has taken away Wheat and Sugar that we used to get," Hill CPI(M) leader Tara Sundas said here.
"This government is anti-Hill, in the recent past they stuck out names of 25 per cent people each in Darjeeling and Kurseong from the ration eligibility roll, and today only 75 per cent of people in Darjeeling and Kurseong receive ration...In Kalimpong they cut the names of 45 per cent of eligible persons, which means only 55 per cent of people in Kalimpong region will get ration... This government has directly targetted and discriminated against the hill people and that is what we are protesting against," he said.

"According to National Food Security Act all the ration should be packed in pouches of 750 grams... And this government has started to do so in the plains... But in the hills they send stuffs in sacks and it is not packaged... Due to which the food item get rotten... We demand that people in the hills should also be given ration in proper packages, the hill people are not refugees and we demand equality...", he said.
A district official discounted the charge of CPI(M) and said there was no discrmination against the the Hills people.