No shortfall of ration in J& K: Min

Srinagar, Dec 27: In the wake of stiff opposition by mainstream and separatist groups over implementation of National Food Security Act (NFSA), Jammu and Kashmir government today sought to clear the confusion, saying no one will be left hungry as there would be no shortfall of the ration supplied to the state.

The government also said improvements in the legislation would be made, if need be. "There is a negative perception over the NFSA that it is against the interests of the people, which it is not.

The NFSA will benefit the people by providing a majority of them highly subsidized ration," Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Chowdhary Zulfiqar Ali told reporters here.

"The state will continue to get 7.51 lakh metric tonnes of ration from the centre and there will be no reduction in that. We assure that no one will be left hungry in Kashmir," Ali said.

The minister said it was not good to indulge in politics over the issue of ration and made it clear that the government would do whatever is required to improve the ration supply to the people of the state. Any legislation can be amended even if it is a central legislation. And then no body can stop us from getting our own legislation, the minister said.

"If we feel the need to enhance the scale of the ration supplied to the people, we will do that. The government will do whatever is required to be done," he said. Ali said after NFSA is implemented, food grains would be a matter of right for the people and compensation would be paid by the Department if any one fails to get the ration.

Under NFSA, food grains will become a matter of right for the people. If my department is not able to provide ration to anyone, we will pay compensation, he said. The minister said after the implementation of NFSA, 119.13 lakh people would be covered in the state.

PTI