‘Soon, spl foodgrain package for the homeless in Malda, Murshidabad’

Kolkata: State Food and Supplies minister Rathin Ghosh said on Thursday that he will seek the consent of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the introduction of a special foodgrain package for people who have been rendered destitute due to river erosion in Malda and Murshidabad districts. The state Food and Supplies department has a special package for Jangalmahal, tea gardens, Hills, Toto tribes, Singur (Hooghly) and Aila-affected people.

“The introduction of the special package is the brainchild of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. I will take up this matter with her and if she gives the approval, then a similar package for erosion-affected people in Malda and Murshidabad can be introduced,” Ghosh said responding to a query from Apurba Sarkar, Trinamool Congress MLA from Kandi, Murshidabad, in the state Assembly on Thursday.

Apart from normal entitlement in their respective ration cards, Jangalmahal gets an additional 11 kg of foodgrains per card, Toto gets 11 kg additional besides normal entitlement, Singur and Aila-affected people get extra 16 kg of foodgrains per card besides normal entitlement as per card category, Hill gets normal entitlement as per card category and an additional 11 kg per card while for tea garden, it is 21 kg rice and 14 kg wheat per family.

Over 50 lakh beneficiaries in the state are under the special package of the state government.

Ghosh said his department has started the introduction of electronic weighing scales in ration shops across the state. “If a beneficiary is provided foodgrains less in quantity than what is allotted against his/her card, transaction slip will not be generated,” Ghosh said.

It will take another three months to introduce these machines in the 21,000 ration shops across the state.