Centre reduces M P's quota of BPL kerosene, wheat, sugar

Bhopal, Mar 14 (UNI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today said the Centre had reduced the state's quota of kerosene, wheat and sugar for distribution to weaker sections.

Intervening in a discussion in the Assembly in connection with the new BPL list, Mr Chouhan said the government was committed to improve the condition of the poor and would ensure that those in the list were supplied ration at cheaper rates.

The new BPL list came into force on April 1, 2006, and about 11 lakh poor families in the state were struck off the earlier list.

Even those in the new list were yet to be provided foodgrain, sugar and kerosene at cheaper rates for want of new ration cards in lieu of surrendered old ones.

The issue was raised by the opposition through a call attention notice moved by Dr I M P Verma (BSP) and others. The non-Congress opposition members staged a walkout expressing dissatisfaction over the government reply.

The opposition was dissatisfied with Rural Development Minister Rustam Singh's contention that only the Centre could order re-survey to enlist those left out during a family survey conducted in 2002-03.

Leader of the Opposition Jamuna Devi said that the government was ignorant about the ground reality as many impoverished labourers were struck off the list and she demanded re-survey of the poor.

The Minister admitted that since the new list came into force last April, 11.42 lakh applications were received for inclusion. As many as 8.71 lakh applications were disposed off and 2.21 lakh applicants found eligible for inclusion, Mr Singh said, adding that 6.50 lakh applicants were found ineligible.

Responding to CPI-M member Ramlakhan Sharma's contention that the poor were deprived of foodgrain, kerosene and sugar for about a year due to non-distribution of ration cards, Mr Rustam Singh said that he would request the Food Department to distribute ration cards as per the new list.

Mr Singh said that receipt of applications for inclusion in the list was an ongoing process and gram sabhas would also be provided a list of those struck of.

The opposition commended the Chief Minister's gesture to entertain applications for inclusion.

Dr Sunilam, Mr Vanshmani Prasad Verma and Mr Arjun Palia (all SP) and other opposition members contended that several poor people, who got toilets constructed with grants under the Total Sanitation Campaign, Indira Awas Yojana and other poverty alleviation programmes, were struck off the list. They demanded that the status quo be maintained for such people deprived of BPL status merely because of constructing a toilet.

They also demanded that the cut-off points be raised from 14 for being eligible for a BPL ration card. Dr Sunilam pointed out that re-inclusion of 2.21 lakh people exposed the shortcomings in the earlier door-to-door survey.

UNI