Union food secy asks state govts to provide food grains at centre's fixed rate

The Union food secretary asked the state governments to provide food grains to the poor at the centre's fixed rate.

New Delhi: The Union food secretary Sudhanshu Pandey on Friday asked the state governments to provide food grains to the poor under the National Food Security Scheme (NFSA) at the centre's fixed price.

During a presser here, Pandey said, "The objective of the scheme is to provide ration to every NFSA beneficiary in the country at the same cost. The central government bears a subsidy of Rs 2 lakh crore for this scheme. All state governments are requested to provide ration at this price."

"Some state governments are providing to the beneficiaries of the National Food Security Scheme at a lower price than the current rate. It is pertinent to inform them that they should not sell any grains neither at a high price or low price," he said.

"Centre distributes rice at Rs 3 per kg, wheat at Rs 2 per kg and other grains at Rs 1 per kg to the poor. The central government is providing all possible help to the states and in such a gloomy situation, the government has liberal thinking on this issue," he added.

"A total of 75 per cent of the population of rural areas and 50% of the population of urban areas are covered under this scheme. In rural areas, Manipur has the highest coverage of 88.56% beneficiaries," he further added.