Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 25: Former minister and senior Congress leader Raman Bhalla today urged upon the Lt Governor G C Murmu to provide two months free ration and Rs 5000 cash assistance to the poor and needy families during the national `lockdown’.
“In the light of this crisis, I would urge upon the Government to provide free ration to all those in need until the lockdown continues, which will be over and above the provisions of the Food Security Act,” Bhalla said.
“Until the lockdown, the identification process of beneficiaries may be waived off,” Bhalla said and added that his concern was about the poor, daily wage labourers, farmers and the marginalized people.
“They will be the biggest suffers in our war against this pandemic,” he said. Bhalla also sought that the allocation of PM-Kissan, be tripled and the entire outstanding sum be transferred to all the identified beneficiaries in two tranches. Further, the Government may consider providing similar cash transfer to needy and they may be identified from the pool of Jan Dhan account holders, Bhalla said.
He also asked the Government to create a National Corona Fund with three main objectives – help states recover some of the costs of this pandemic; provide relief to small businesses, farmers & daily wage earners; and fund testing kits, vaccine research and other necessary innovation.
Bhalla requested LG to take immediate steps for rescuing the daily wage workers and poor families whose livelihoods have come under severe threat because of lack of daily work during lockdowns and curfews.
“The Government should provide poor families with ration for two months consisting of rice, edible oil, pulses, sugar, vegetables and other essential commodities. This should be delivered to their doorsteps. In addition, Rs. 5,000 financial assistance should be given to each family in this time of extreme distress,” Bhalla said.
He expressed concern over almost 200 % hike in the vegetable prices in the open market and demanded Government intervention with serious action on black marketers and middlemen.
India is fighting a big battle against the coronavirus in spite of its old and weak system. This has been possible because our system has shown a strong will. Therefore every warrior fighting this battle should be respected.
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