The BJP on Wednesday accused the Delhi government of failing to provide free ration to 72 lakh ration cardholders in the Capital under a Central scheme during the lockdown and demanded its immediate implementation.
Led by Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta and Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, BJP MLAs went to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence to present a memorandum but were not allowed to meet him, they alleged.
The memorandum stated that due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had allocated free rations for 72 lakh ration cardsholders for the month of May and June under the Pradhan Mantri Kalyan Anna Yojana.
Under the scheme as well as the Food Security Act, the Centre provides 8 kg of wheat and 2 kg of rice; however, almost two weeks of May had passed but no distribution of free rations had taken place due to the “failure of the Delhi government to issue formal orders” to PDS outlets in this regard.
According to the procedure, these orders should have been issued by May 1, but this was not done, the BJP alleged.
The BJP accused the Delhi government of “deliberately” not issuing the orders for distribution of free rations to the poor fearing that the credit for the same would go to the Central government.
