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Centre refutes Sonia's allegation on Rajasthan's plight

New Delhi Feb. 7. The Centre tonight strongly refuted the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi's charge that it was discriminating against drought-hit Rajasthan in foodgrain assistance, asserting that the desert state had been allocated more than 10 lakh tonnes so far.

Hours after Ms. Gandhi shot off a letter to the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, protesting against the Centre's `reported decision' to cut the `foodgrain quota' for Rajasthan and urged him to review it, official sources said there was no quota system as such for any state.

They said the Central assistance to all states was being made on need basis. The states have been divided into three categories and Rajasthan has been placed in a special category, the sources said.

More than 10 lakh tonnes of foodgrains have been allotted to the state and more foodgrain assistance is due to be allocated to the state after the report of the Task Force, the sources said, adding that the Prime Minister would soon send a formal reply to Ms. Gandhi.

In her letter, Ms. Gandhi had said that Rajasthan has been reeling under drought for the fourth consecutive year and that large parts of its people were facing a ``starvation-type situation''.

She said she expected the Prime Minister ``not to allow any discrimination to be practised against this state at the cost of thousands of families facing the most acute distress''. — PTI

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