Hyderabad: CPI secretary and Kothagudem MLA Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao questioned the civil supplies department whether it was aware of the Centre’s plans to discontinue the public distribution system (PDS) with direct benefit transfer (DBT) of money to beneficiaries in its place.
State civil supplies minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy replied saying he did not have any idea, but clarified that the state government had no such plans.
Calling Uttam “Bhola Shankar“, Kunamneni, hoped the issuance of new ration cards would be done at a saturation mode, just like the way schemes like housing, pensions and ration card; he hoped all those eligible for the scheme would be covered.
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Reminding the House of nine ingredients distributed as a package to ration card beneficiaries in the past, he suggested that the scheme be reintroduced.
He also sought to know whether the state government was aware of a PDS recycling chain operating in Telangana, where rice given to beneficiaries for Rs 1 per kg is sold for Rs 7 to an intermediary who then sells it to Andhra Pradesh and even China.
He sought to know if millers hoarding tonnes of rice without delivering it to the government continued.
He suggested the state government put another quality mark like Agmark on the food products so that quality could be maintained.