Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda on Monday pulled up the Union Government for bringing in the Food Security Bill quickly and questioned the reasons behind discontinuing the ‘Mukhyamantri Dal Bhat Yojna’ introduced by his government in the state.
“Food Security Bill was no doubt a good move but the haste and anxiety of the UPA government to pass it was not proper,” Mr. Munda said while addressing a press conference in Jamshedpur.
A senior BJP leader said the bill should have been discussed and debated in details in the Parliament and introduced taking all parties into confidence, he said alleging that the government was not willing to discuss the issue.
“In fact, the government has changed the criteria set for the bill,” Mr. Munda said referring the report which stated that a person earning Rs. 32 per day in urban area and Rs. 28 in rural belt would not considered as below poverty line (BPL).
The former chief minister said during his tenure he had announced to provide foodgrain to BPL families on cheap rate and urged the government to include eleven BPL families of the state into the BPL category, besides the existing list of BPL families, but the union government refused to consider it.
Referring to the popular scheme ‘Mukhyamanti Dal-Bhat Yojna’, Mr. Munda asked why the scheme was discontinued when it was benefiting the BPL families of the state.
“It was ridiculous that a popular scheme, which served the BPL and poor families stomach-full meal for cheap rate, was discontinued for no reason,” he said.
