NFSA deadline 'completely unrealistic', Jayalalithaa tells PM Narendra Modi

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu government today told the Centre that its directive to implement National Food Safety Act (NFSA) by Septemebr 30, 2015 was "completely unrealistic" and that its request and issues relating to the central legislation were "yet to be satisfactorily addressed".

Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan had on September 17 "reiterated the need to implement NFSA in the shortest possible time, without satisfactorily addressing Tamil Nadu's concerns".

"The time limit of 30.9.2015 to implement NFSA in Tamil Nadu is completely unrealistic. We have taken up the process of end to end computerisation of the Public Distribution System, cleaning up the family card data base and the process of seeding the family card data base with Aadhaar numbers," she said.

Only after this process was completed will it be possible to identify the priority households under NFSA, she said, adding that the Centre would also have to take an early decision on Tamil Nadu's request and issues relating to NFSA, "which are yet to be satisfactorily addressed".

She recalled that she had raised a number of issues with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh regarding NFSA, which she had reiterated with Modi also.

"In this context, it is essential to ensure that the Public Distribution System, which functions most effectively in Tamil Nadu, and is the pride of the state, is not allowed to suffer in anyway by imposing unrealistic timelines.

"Hence, I request that the Government of India should extend the process of implementation of NFSA in Tamil Nadu by at least one year," and in the meantime address its legitimate concerns about NFSA, she said.

Further, the level of allocation of food grains for Tamil Nadu, 65,262 MT per month for Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) families, 1.04 lakh MT per month for BPL families and over 1.26 lakh MT per month for APL families should be maintained "unchanged at the present level and at the present issue prices", she said.