Govt committed to food ordinance, says Virbhadra Singh Tribune News Service Shimla, July 13 Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said the Himachal Government had started the process for formulating an action plan to implement the National Food Security Ordinance (NFSO) in letter and spirit. He was speaking at the Conference of Congress-ruled state Chief Ministers on NFSO in New Delhi today. “The Himachal Government will ensure it meets the nutritional standards, fixed under the ordinance, related to cooked meals for children at anganwadi centres and the Mid-Day Meal Scheme being implemented in government schools,” he said. Virbhadra Singh said the provision of free meals during pregnancy and lactation period, along with maternity benefits of Rs 6,000, would ensure safe deliveries and reduce the infant and maternal mortality rate in the state. He said the state government was providing foodgrains and pulses at subsidised rates to all the ration card holders in the state under Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). He said the ordinance may exclude about 18.85 lakh persons from the TPDS and also reduce monthly allocation by 17,094 MT of foodgrains to the state. He said the state government would continue to provide foodgrains to all families, irrespective of the fact whether they were covered under the ambit of the ordinance or not. He requested the Central Government to provide foodgrains, wheat and rice, at the current level of 43,995 MT per month. The Chief Minister said the below poverty line (BPL) families in the state were currently getting 20 kg wheat and 15 kg rice per month, irrespective of their family size. He added that the state government would maintain the present level to these families and requested the Centre to allocate food grains at BPL price at existing level of allocations.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Jul 2013 02:09:25 +0000
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