Finance and Civil Supplies Minister Etala Rajender has said that the State Government requested the Centre to take up a resurvey of below poverty line (BPL) families in Telangana against the background of bifurcation of erstwhile State for the purpose of identification of beneficiaries of welfare programmes. While the Centre had identified just 1.91 crore people in State as members of BPL families, the State government’s own intensive household survey disclosed the number at 2.82 crore.
“The State will extend BPL benefits to more people than those identified by the Centre for now,” he said on Monday.
He said the State government has rectified 50 per cent of fine rice procurement and distribution problems, said Finance and Civil Supplies Minister Etala Rajender as he assured more transparency and efficiency in the system.
In the coming months, Mr. Rajender said that the government will be able to strengthen measures to prevent black marketing and sale of spurious rice varieties. He dismissed the claims of the Opposition parties that adulterated poor quality rice was distributed to students in mid-day meal scheme.
The government took stringent measures to prevent tampering of rice distribution network. GPS tracking of trucks, biometric system of entry and e-pass system is being implemented to prevent malpractices. “With the implementation of GPS system in tracking trucks near Kandukur of Ranga Reddy district, we were able to prevent 15 to 20 p.c. of attrition in rice distribution. If e-pass system of verification is implemented in urban areas of Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad, the government will be able to prevent a bigger share of losses,” he said. Even as the Opposition is questioning the efficacy of the programme, it should remember that the government has issued a circular on July 3 this year allowing unlimited supply of rice to students. The previous government used to supply 125 gm of rice per person in primary classes, 175 gm for students up to class VIII and 400 gm of rice for class IX and X students.
