Bihar govt draws Ramvilas Paswan's attention on wheat crunch in 5 districts

PATNA: The Bihar government today drew the attention of Union Food Minister Ramvilas Paswan regarding supply crunch of wheat in five districts, which was hampering implementation of the Food Law there and urged him to issue necessary directions to the FCI in this regard.

"Despite reminders to FCI on April 22 regarding lack of supply of wheat in Buxar, Bhojpur, Jamui, East Champaran and Sitamarhi for the month of May this year; the grain has not been made available till today when the time for lifting of grain for next month is to expire tomorrow," Bihar food minister Shyam Rajak said in a letter to Paswan.

Rajak said this was hampering implementation of the Food Law in these districts and urged Paswan to issue necessary guidelines to make grains available on time for smooth running of the food guarantee scheme.

The Officer on Special Duty of Bihar State Food and Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd on April 22 had said in a letter that due to the short supply, lifting of food grain for the Food Law has been hampered.

"April 30 is the cut off date for completion of the lifting of grains for the month of May and for making it available to beneficiaries under the Food Law," the OSD said in his letter highlighting the supply crunch and urged the FCI to make available wheat at the earliest.

Bihar implemented the Food Law from February 1, 2013. Recently, Union Food and Civil Supplies Minister Ramvilas Paswan had visited Patna and criticised the state government for lacunae in implementation of the Food Security Law in the state.

Paswan had particularly ticked off the Nitish Kumar government for leaving 1.11 crore eligible beneficiaries out of the ambit of the law in Bihar.