Sunday, Jan 12, 2003
Sunday, Jan 12, 2003 |
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Tamil Nadu
By Our Special Correspondent
The State Government, which announced the plan to feed the small, marginal farmers and farm hands reportedly teetering on starvation because of succesive crop failures, has directed village administrative officers and panchayat presidents to make arrangements for issuing food coupons. In an order issued last evening, the Revenue department has asked the VAOs and panchayat chiefs to jointly scrutinise the applications from farmers and farm workers who wish to have the free lunch and issue coupons by Tuesday, in time for the inaugural of the feeding programme. For the next two working days, the panchayat presidents have been asked to stay put in their offices, to examine the applications and identify the beneficiaries. The Government expects that 10-50 families would get lunch in each centre. A senior government official said the meal centres, which normally keep two months' stocks of rice and dhal, would be ready to manage the additional flow, apart from feeding school children. Each of the farmers and peasants would be given the same quantity of food old age pensioners normally got-about 200 gm of rice. * * * Beneficiary list being prepared By Our Staff Reporter
On receiving filled in applications, the village administrative officer and the village panchayat president would check the veracity of the claim and affix their signatures testifying to the applicants being real beneficiaries. If an eligible person was not selected, he could appeal to the tasildhar who would verify his claim and give approval. Coupons would be distributed to all beneficiaries on January 13. From January 15, meal would be served through 873 nutrition centres in the district. On the inaugural day, Pongal, the menu would include ``Sakkarai Pongal''. On other days, 200 grams of rice, 15 grams of dhal, one gram oil would be supplied. The beneficiaries could either eat at the centre or take food home. To take food home, they would have to bring plates. Coupons would be distributed to all members a beneficiary family if they so required but every one should come in person to get the meal. Farm labourers and small and marginal farmers owning 1.25 acres of wet land or 2.25 acres of dry land were eligible. There were 589 village panchayats and 10 rural town panchayats in the district.
2.5 lakh beneficiaries in Nagapattinam
Our Nagapattinam Staff Reporter reports: In Nagapattinam, about 1.25 lakh families of landless agriculture labourers and an equal number of small and tiny farmer families (as per district profile released by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) are likely to avail themselves of the noon meal. There are 450 noon meal centres. Given the gravity of situation, the officials expect that a minimum of 100 persons will avail themselves of the free meal in each centre during the initial weeks.
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