Four lakh in Odisha withdraw from NFSA

Odisha Channel Bureau Bhubaneswar: The fear of getting caught made at least four lakh Odia people withdraw on own from the list of beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). “For implementing NFSA in Odisha, Government used several methods to weed out the ineligibles.100,000 households with 400,000 members have withdrawn on own,” twitted Madhu Sudan Padhi, Odisha Government’s Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Department today.According to unofficial reports, some people, who had BPL cards in the past, had not applied for obtaining new ration cards that were prepared as per the National Food Security Act after being aware of the eligibility conditions.But lakhs of people, who had BPL cards earlier, including government employees, had also applied for the new cards knowing full well that they don’t meet the eligibility criteria enumerated in NFSA.Those people reportedly have withdrawn after the State government took several measures to weed out ineligible households.Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had distributed the new ration cards prepared as per NFSA to the beneficiaries at a ceremony held at the Secretariat on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti on October 2.Many of his Ministers had also distributed the new cards among the beneficiaries at the district headquarters towns in different parts of the State.The ruling Biju Janata Dal too had started its Jan Sampark Padyatra from that day.Odisha Government has announced to implement the National Food Security Act from November 1 in 14 districts in the first phase.The distribution of the new ration cards was done at the gram panchayat level from October 3 to October 8.The distribution of these new ration cards will be carried out in the remaining 16 districts from October 26, according to the Department’s website.The Naveen Patnaik Government is trying to implement the Act in the entire state by end of 2015.Many people, however, feel that the list according to which the new ration cards have been prepared was not free from politics.Many households that were not eligible had been added to the list of beneficiaries since they were supporters of the ruling party, they allege.The government officials, supporting the ruling BJD, were blissfully ignorant of the irregularities.