'L-G's block unfortunate, scheme final, seeking Centre's nod wrong'

New Delhi: The three-way tussle between L-G Anil Baijal's office, the Central government and the Delhi government over the implementation of the AAP-led government's doorstep delivery of ration to beneficiaries on Thursday escalated a notch as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal returned the project file to the L-G's office, saying that it was incorrect for Baijal's office to seek the Centre's approval when such action is neither mandated nor necessary.

The CM, in the file, returned to the L-G's office, explained that the Delhi government had constantly communicated each step of the decision-making process for this scheme to both the Centre and the L-G's office over the last three odd years, during which time, neither did the Centre mention that the scheme required its approval and nor did the L-G find any reason to object to any part of the scheme.

The CM noted that the office of the Food and Civil Supplies Minister had informed his counterpart in the Centre at least four times over the last two years - in February 2019, March, June and December of 2020 - during which the Centre did not raise any objections with the scheme. He then said that only when the Delhi government notified this scheme on February 20, did the Centre object to the use of the name "Mukhya Mantri" in the scheme.

Similarly, the chief minister laid out before the L-G, that his Cabinet had kept Baijal's office in the loop every step of the way, during which time no objections were raised. He concluded thus that the scheme in itself can not be in question because it had already "attained finality".

The CM went on to say that in July last year, the scheme's name was decided by the Council of Ministers and it was agreed that e-POS would be installed at Fair Price Shops to ensure One Nation One Ration Card. In October, the Council of Ministers cleared a two-phase implementation of the programme, following which the Delhi government issued tenders in the same month to ensure speedy implementation.

The CM pointed out that all of these decisions were independently sent to the L-G's office when they were taken and that Baijal had not flagged any concerns or objections in all these communications.

The CM clarified that the file on the doorstep delivery of ration scheme is now stuck after the Delhi government had decided to drop "Mukhya Mantri" from its name. He said on March 24 this year, the Cabinet had cleared the proposal to drop "Mukhya Mantri" and this decision was also communicated to the L-G, who did not raise any concerns. However, when the same decision was notified and sent to the L-G's office on May 24, removing the Centre's objections, Baijal's office sought the Centre's approval for the same, which the CM said is not required.

Stressing that the Centre itself had never in the last two-three years indicated that the scheme needed its approval, the chief minister also referred to the challenge to this scheme in the Delhi High Court. He noted that despite five hearings in the matter, the court had refused to stay the scheme and neither had the Centre in their affidavit indicated that the scheme required its green light.

The CM said it was "unfortunate" that during times of pandemic, when the Delhi government was looking to speedily implement such a

scheme for the benefit of the people, the L-G's office had cited these concerns to put the scheme on hold.

In a separate portion of the returned file, the CM also laid out the need to urgently implement this scheme, citing among many other aspects, that the scheme merely follows the Central government's provisions for ration distribution and in fact takes it a notch further.

He said that given the pandemic, it was paramount to avoid crowding at FPSs, which are usually located in congested localities and in the last lockdown, it was already seen that when people had wheat they could not access mills to churn flour out of it. So under this scheme, the Delhi government will take the grain from FCI, transport it to mills, churn it into flour and then distribute packaged flour to beneficiaries.