Union Minister for Food and Public distribution Ram Vilas Paswan today asked the Nagaland government to implement the Food Security Act in the state.
The National Food Security Act (NFSA) was passed in July 2013 and within a year all states in the country have implemented it, but Nagaland stands as the only state in the country where it was yet to be implemented, Paswan said addressing reporters at the Police Guest House Chumukedima.
"Presently the total allocation of food grains is 1,27,668 lakh tonnes and if NFSA is implemented, allocation will be 1,38,000 lakh tonnes. The state government will also be benefited," he said.
He went on to say if the NFSA was implemented, about 80 per cent people in the rural areas would be covered and people would get wheat at Rs two per kg and rice at Rs three per kg.
With regard to the transportation cost, the Minister said 75 per cent would be borne by the Centre, while the remaining would be the state's share.
He also highlighted the hill transport subsidy, which was utilised for transporting food grains from FCI depots to the intermediary godowns.
Nagaland has not claimed this subsidy for quite some time, Paswan said.
For implementation of the NFSA, he said four criteria have to be fulfilled - digitisation of beneficiary list, online allocation, supply chain management and grievance mechanism.
The Minister said Nagaland Chief Minister T R Zeliang has assured that NFSA would be implemented in the state soon.
Stating that Dimapur was the only FCI district in Nagaland catering to the needs of around 20 lakh population, Paswan announced Kohima would soon be made a FCI district.
"For this, a godown will be constructed and inaugurated in Kohima by September," he said.
Paswan requested the state government to fulfil all conditions for implementing NFSA and was optimistic that it would be implemented at the earliest.
