Other States - Puducherry   

BJP-ruled States not contributing food grains to Central pool, alleges Narayanasamy

PUDUCHERRY: Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Planning V. Narayanasamy on Friday said some of the States, particularly those ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, had not been contributing foodgrains to the Central pool to maintain supplies to the Public Distribution System (PDS).

Addressing a press conference here, he said though the BJP had been launching agitations in different parts of the country against the rise in prices of essential commodities, the States, including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, had not been adequately fulfilling their commitment of contributing wheat and paddy to the Central pool.

Apart from this, they had also failed to check pilferages; 45-50 per cent of the essential articles earmarked for the PDS had been “diverted to the black market,” he alleged. Though the State governments had adequate powers to unearth the hoarded stocks of essential articles, the BJP-ruled States had done little in this regard. The Parliamentary Standing Committee had already submitted its report in this regard, he added.

It was “unfair” on the part of the State governments to “shirk their responsibilities” and accuse the Centre of not curbing price rise, he said. There could be improvement in the prevailing situation on the price front only if all the State governments and political parties cooperated with the Centre in its efforts to control prices, he said.

He highlighted various measures taken by the Centre such as providing subsidy to the tune of Rs.3.70 lakh crore on fuel, fertilizer and other essential articles per year, implementing loan waiver to the tune of Rs.71,000 crore for small and marginal farmers and imposing regulations on import and export of certain essential articles.

Expressing concern over increasing crime, including murders, in Puducherry, he said that he had already spoken to the Lieutenant Governor on Wednesday and reiterated the demand for invoking Goondas Act in the Union Territory. He would take it up with the Chief Minister shortly. The Assembly should be convened to pass a resolution to this effect. Asked about the remarks made by three Ministers of the Union Territory recently that law and order had deteriorated in Puducherry, he said they should have expressed their views at the Cabinet meeting. He hastened to add that he was not aware of the circumstances under which they had made their views public.

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