Union Minister of Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan today said the Centre has set up a committee to find out modalities to meet additional rice requirement of states.
"We have set up a committee headed by chairman of Food Corporation of India (FCI) to look into the matter as many states wanted more rice than wheat under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). We will consider demands of states positively," he told reporters after meeting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here.
Noting that Odisha was among the state which wanted more rice as people here take it as their main food, Paswan said the Centre would take a decision as per the suggestion of the committee.
Earlier, Patnaik in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 4 had urged the Centre for the release of 3.20 lakh MT rice and 52.9 thousand MT wheat for three months from November, 2015 to January, 2016.
However, the Centre has so far released 2.92 lakh MT rice and 78.4 thousand MT wheat under NFSA resulting in a shortfall of 27,900 MT rice and surplus of 25,500 MT wheat, Patnaik had pointed out.
"Odisha is a rice consuming state and most people prefer rice as their staple diet. The state government's request was based on a ratio of 85.82:14.18 derived from the option of beneficiaries indicated in their NFSA applications," the letter stated.
Failure to supply foodgrain as per the choice of NFSA beneficiaries would be against the spirit of the Act, the Chief Minister added.
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Meanwhile, doctors attending the Union minister said he
was stable and responding to the treatment.
Doctors at cardiology department of Paras hospital, Pramod Kumar and Ajay Sinha, joined by Doctor Sanjeev Kumar of AIIMS Patna, were attending to Paswan in the ICU.
Sanjeev Kumar told
