Food Security Act to roll out in Odisha on Nov 1

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Sep 3:

The National Food Security Act (NFSA) will be implemented in Odisha from November 1 instead of the earlier announced schedule of October 1, informed MS Padhi, secretary, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare department here today.

Padhi said the programme will be implemented in the state in two phases. While it will be implemented in 10 districts in the initial phase onNovember 1, it will be implemented in the rest of the districts later, he added.

Explainingthe delay in the implementation of the programme in the state, Padhi said it was taking time to delete the names of lakhs of ineligible applicants who had registered for inclusion in the programme causing the delay. He said the process to exclude them was on and till date 51 lakh ineligible applicants have been struck off from the list.

The secretary said the programme will be implemented in the state from November 1 after the process of deletion of names from the list is completed.

Earlier, Padhi had said that NFSA will be implemented in the state from October 1 and a list of eligible beneficiaries would be notified in the last week of August.

It may be mentioned here that many people who did not meet the eligibility criteria had registered their names for availing benefits under the NFSA in the state while the Centre has allowed the state to provide benefits of the NFSA to 3.26 crore people of the state’s total population of 4.21 crore.

The state government has suspended about 60 employees, including 17 in Ganjam district alone, on charges of violation of NFSA norms. About 2.5 lakh employees have so far opted out of the NFSA list, official sources revealed.

Earlier, Padhi had said a total of 70 lakh ineligible beneficiaries are to be struck off the list. While 50 lakh names have been struck off from the list by August end, another 20 lakh names of ineligible beneficiaries will be struck out from the list soon.