*Zulfkar takes up matter with Paswan
Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Dec 15: In a surprising decision, the Union Ministry of Consumer of Affairs, Food & Public Distribution has stopped the supply of CAPD wheat/ Atta to over 45 lakh J&K consumers, falling under non-priority house hold category (NPHH/ tide over) from this month.
With this anti-Jammu decision of the Central Government, majority of the CAPD consumers from the 10 districts of Jammu division have been affected as over 80-85 % of people from this region mostly consume wheat/ Atta while people in Kashmir generally consume rice as per their eating habits. People from Ladakh region also mostly consume wheat/ Atta.
Highly placed official sources told the Excelsior that Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, New Delhi in a letter No. 3053, dated November 29, 2016 has communicated to the Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, J&K/ CAPD, that the allocation of foodgrains for the J&K, under National Food Security Act has been revised from December 2016 to March 2017 and no wheat supply will be made to the State under tide over (NPHH) category for the next four months.
The communiqué further conveyed to the State CAPD authorities that ” J&K Government may kindly note that this allocation under tide over category is one time measure for this financial year only. The tide over allocation will be reviewed for the next financial year that is, with effect from April, 2017 subsequently and the allocation may be restored to existing level, ‘if required’. ”
The letter also revealed that there will be no change in the allotment of the quota to the priority (BPL) and AAY categories in Kashmir as well as in Jammu regions. The rice supply to Kashmir for priority, non-priority and AAY categories will be continued as per existing quota. The State would get monthly quota of rice for the tide over category to the tune of 22792 tons and other ‘priority and AAY’ category as 28037.72 ton while 11760.32 ton wheat under BPL/ AAY category and no wheat under NPHH category.
The price of rice under AAY/BPL category has been mentioned as Rs 3 and wheat Rs 2 per kg, while for the tide over (NPHH) category the Union Ministry letter has still mentioned the rate of CAPD rice as Rs 8.30 per Kg and wheat Rs 6.10 per Kg. It has also been mentioned that GOI has decided to allocate rice in lieu of wheat under ‘tide over’/NPHH category due to shortage of wheat in the central pool and also based on the fresh identification of beneficiaries reported by the J&K Government and the request of the State Government for allocation of food grains.
Secretary CAPD, Shafiq Ahmed Raina when contacted said that this decision has been taken by the Government of India.
“We can only make request to them to restore the existing supplies of wheat for the tide over category. They have claimed some shortage of food grains in the Central pool. The State Government has taken up the matter with them,” Raina added.
Replying to another question, the Secretary CAPD said that Centre has denied Wheat quota to about 45 lakh population in J&K for the next four months. The Centre is supplying 4.72 lakh Mt Ton of food grains to 74.13 lakh souls under Priority/BPL / AAY category while 2.72 lakh Mt ton to nearly 45 lakh population under non-priority category.
When asked about fate of levy sugar supply in the State as the contract of six months is over in November this year, Raina said that new contract for sugar supply has also been finalized and Department has managed to get sugar on low rate as compared to previous contract rate. He claimed that sugar will be made available to the consumers at the same rate shortly.
Minister for CAPD J&K, Choudhary Zulfkar said that after this decision of the Central Government, he rushed to Delhi on December 2 and held meeting with the Union Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Minister, Ram Vilas Paswan. He said that matter was thoroughly discussed with the Union Minister and he revealed the compulsion of the State in view of its topography and low production here. He claimed that Paswan principally agreed to resume the supplies to the State. It is hoped that Centre would consider the request of the State, the Minister maintained.
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