Union min Harsimrat Kaur, BJP's Chugh slam Cong over food grain distribution to needy

Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and BJP leader Tarun Chugh Thursday slammed the Congress government in Punjab, accusing it of not distributing food grain to the needy people who are hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak.

Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal re-tweeted a tweet by Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan in which he claimed that only one per cent beneficiaries in Punjab got foodgrain, 688 tonnes, out of 70,725 MT under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojanafor the month of April.

In the tweet, Paswan asked Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to speed up the distribution of food grain. Badal also asked Singh to ensure people don't suffer for the want of ration.

"Plget your act together @capt_amarinder & ensure people of Punjab don't continue to suffer for want of ration. Pl start central ration distribution immediately," she tweeted.

Lashing out at Singh, BJP national secretary Tarun Chugh said "ignoring" distribution of food grains received from the Centre shows Congress leaders are not bothered about the plight of people during COVID-19 pandemic.

Chief Minister Singhdenied any delay in distribution of food grains received from the Centre, saying the state got less than 50 per cent of the promised 'Dal' (pulses), in the absence of which the wheat grains could also not be distributed, as per the guidelines of the Centre itself.

The CM also accused Harsimrat of misleading the Union Food Minister.

"@irvpaswan Ji, it seems you've not been given all details. Fact is we got less than 50% of Dal quota from Centre, which we're already distributing with wheat, as per your guidelines. For the rest, we've distributed 15 lakh ration packets from state budget without GoI help, the CM tweeted, tagging Food and Public Distribution Minister Paswan.

The CM pointed out that as per the Centre's own directives, wheat and dal had to be distributed to the eligible beneficiaries during the lockdown/curfew, but the fact was that while the state already had sufficient quantities of wheat lying in its godowns, the pulses were not forthcoming from the central government.

Incidentally, the state currently has 73 lakh MT of wheat and 100 lakh MT of riceof previous years lying in its godowns, to which the current crop of 135 lakh MT wheat will be added.

The Chief Minister in a statement here said he had, in fact, been persistently following up with Paswan to expedite lifting of the grains to prevent them from rotting in the open, with storage facilities inadequate to take all of it.

He reiterated his demand for the Central government to expedite the lifting of the food grains to ensure that they do not go waste, especially at this critical time.

On the issue of the distribution of central food rations, the CM said that contrary to what Badal, herself a union minister, had been claiming, Punjab had received only about 2,500 MT of the promised 10,800 MT of pulses by May 1.

The state started distribution with this initial quantity of dal and wheat on May 1 itself, and distribution was currently in progress in 18 districts, he said.