Bhubaneswar, Apr 1 (PTI) Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday asked officials to distribute 5 kilograms of rice per month free of cost to beneficiaries of the State Food Security Scheme (SFSS) for the next six months.
While the Centre provides rice to the beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act, the state government has extended it to 8.09 lakh people left out of the central scheme. The Odisha government provides rice at the rate of Re 1 per kg under the SFSS.
The state government had earlier extended the benefit of 5 kg of free rice for the beneficiaries of SFSS from December 2021 to March 2022 after the Centre launched the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As per the chief minister’s directive, each beneficiary of the SFSS will get an additional 5 kgs of rice from the allotment month of April 2022 to September 2022, an official statement said.
“For this purpose, 24,270 tonnes of rice will be supplied from the state pool with an expenditure of Rs 91.70 crore from the state’s own fund,” it said.
This will facilitate beneficiaries enrolled in the SFSS to remain at par with the 3.26 crore beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act, the statement said. PTI AAM NN NN
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Source: The Print
