The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Delhi unit on Saturday urged the Central Government to take over the ration distribution system or directly transfer the subsidy into the bank account of the beneficiary.
The BJP has alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi has failed to give rations to 72.78 lakh ration cardholders in November and December.
“Due to the negligence of the (Delhi CM Arvind) Kejriwal government towards the poor, the rationing system in the capital has come to a complete standstill,” the Delhi BJP alleged.
“72.78 lakh ration cardholders in Delhi did not get rations for November and December. This ration was not lifted from the godowns. The additional ration issued by the central government under ‘One Nation, One Card’ also did not reach the poor of Delhi who have come from other states and are living in Delhi,” the Delhi BJP said in a statement.
Speaking to the media, working president of the Delhi Pradesh BJP Virendra Sachdeva and Leader of the Opposition Rambir Singh Bidhuri claimed that the rationing system in Delhi had completely stalled.
The two leaders also claimed that the Delhi government did not even lift the rations of the One Nation, One Card scheme from the godowns and that the commission received for ration vendors was also not given to them.
“The central government provides rations to the consumers of Delhi under the National Food Security Act, the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, and ‘One Nation, One Card Scheme’. Along with providing rations, the central government also pays the cost of transportation and the commission of ration vendors to deliver rations from godowns to ration vendors. The Delhi government only needs to lift the ration from the godowns and deliver it to the ration vendors, but the Delhi government is unable to do it,” the leaders alleged.
“The poor of Delhi have not yet received the ration for November and December. The reason is that more than 34,000 quintals of rice from Mayapuri, Okhla and Pusa godowns and 10,000 quintals of wheat from Mayapuri godown, sent for November, were not lifted,” the BJP alleged.
“Similarly, poor people who have come from other states and are issued rations under the ‘One Nation, One Card’ scheme, are also not getting ration. The Central Government released 8,000 tonnes of rice and 11,900 tonnes of wheat for the half year from April to September this year, but the Delhi government could not distribute even this,” the BJP leaders alleged.
“The central government has decided that the commission of ration vendors should be paid in advance. The central government had paid ₹24.89 crores as their commission in the last half year; out of that, only ₹14.55 crores were released. In this way, the ration vendors are not even being given their commission properly,” the leaders further alleged.