The central government has put a stop to the Delhi government’s doorstep delivery of ration scheme. Delhi government had planned to deliver ration to 72 lakh poor beneficiaries at their homes. According to the Delhi government, this would help people especially in prevailing Covid-19 situation.
The scheme was stopped by the Centre on the basis that its approval was not sought and given before implementation,” sources said. The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi also rejected the file for implementation of the scheme because of an ongoing court case, an official statement from the chief minister’s office said.
On this, Delhi’s Food Minister Imran Hussain stated, “No approval for launching such a scheme is required as per existing law. Citing an ongoing court case, wherein no stay has been ordered by the courts, to stop the rollout of such a revolutionary scheme makes it clear that this decision is politically motivated.
The central government stated that those grains cannot be used for the operationalisation of any state specific/other scheme under different name/nomenclature other than NFSA as the same is not permissible under the Act
However, the Centre will have no objection if the Delhi government comes out with a separate scheme without mixing the elements of the NFSA, the government’s letter had said.
Reacting to this, the AAP said it is deeply saddening that the central government has asked the Delhi government to stop the scheme which was to be launched on March 25.
The Kejriwal-led government then dropped the original name of the scheme, Mukhyamantri Ghar Ghar Ration Yojana, due to the Centre’s objection and decided to implement doorstep delivery of ration as part of the existing NFS Act, 2013. The government submitted the file for final approval but has now been stalled by the Centre again.
Under the scheme, every ration beneficiary would receive 4 kg wheat flour (atta), 1 kg rice and sugar per person at the convenience of their homes instead of from fair price shops. The ration would be provided in hygienically packaged form.
The aim of the scheme is to tackle issues that plague ration delivery in India currently, the Delhi government said. This includes ration shops being found shut during working hours, poor quality of foodgrains, less ration given by ration dealers, multiple trips to ration shops and ration being diverted into black market.