Sushma Swaraj slams UPA government over hunger deaths

Indore, June 6: Senior BJP leader

Wednesday targeted the

government over the lack of adequate storage facilities for foodgrain and the resultant wastages in a country where

continues to be a major challenge.

"Millions of tonnes of foodgrains are wasted as the system of purchase, storage and distribution is in the hands of the government, which has created its own deficiencies."

"This mismanagement has led to the death of a large number of people due to hunger," said the Lok Sabha leader of Opposition.

Swaraj was speaking at the inauguration of the second phase of Madhya Pradesh government's food security scheme, 'Mukyamantri Annapurna Yojana'.

Accusing the Congress-led UPA government of neglecting the BJP-ruled MP, Swaraj said that although the state had 72 lakh BPL families, the Centre provided subsidised foodgrain for only 43 lakh of them.

But praising Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for introducing the Annapurna Yojana, Swaraj said that the said scheme would ensure nobody in the state went to sleep on an empty stomach.

She said that the MP government had earmarked Rs 1,000 crore from its own resources to provide wheat and salt at Re 1/kg and rice at Rs 2/kg to the poor under the scheme.

PTI