As the Karnataka government is facing difficulty in procuring large quantities of rice required to fulfil its poll guarantee, it has decided to pay beneficiaries cash at the rate of Rs 34 per kilo, for the additional 5kg of the foodgrain promised under the 'Anna Bhagya' scheme.
The Congress, in its election manifesto, had promised to give an additional five kg rice a month along with five kg given by the Centre for free.
The state government said the disbursement of money will start from July 1.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah after a Cabinet meeting in Bengaluru on Wednesday said that the government has decided to go for open market tender to procure rice, whose process will start from Thursday.
Briefing reporters, food and civil supplies minister KH Muniyappa said, "The FCI (Food Corporation of India) has a standard rate of Rs 34 per kg rice. We tried to get rice but no institution came forward to supply us the required amount of rice (to give additionally).”
He said, "Since the date for launching Anna Bhagya has arrived (July 1) and we had given word, today in the cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and other ministers arrived at a decision that till the time the rice is supplied, we will give money at the rate of Rs 34 per kg, which is the FCI rate, to the (BPL) ration card holders.”
If there is one person in one card then he/she will get Rs 170 a month against five kg additional rice under the Anna Bhagya scheme, the minister explained.
Two persons in the ration card will be entitled for Rs 340 and if there are five members then they would get Rs 850 a month, he added.
Muniyappa said the government has made arrangements to directly deposit the amount into the beneficiaries' accounts.
"This will come into effect from July 1 itself. This is one of the important guarantees promised by our party. We had taken this decision in the first cabinet meeting after coming to power," the minister noted.
The Karnataka government maintained that it tried to give 5 kg additional rice to the BPL families for free under the Anna Bhagya scheme apart from five kg given by the Centre. However, the Union government did not cooperate, it alleged.
Siddaramaiah said the money will go into the account of the head of the family.
"If there is one person then he will get Rs 170, if there are two, then 170x2, there are four then the head of the family will get Rs 170x4," he said.
The Chief Minister added that the five kg rice is in addition to the five kg rice given by the Centre. "We had said we will give 10 kg of rice. Already the Centre is giving 5 kg. We will give 5 kg rice extra," he explained.
Siddaramaiah also blamed the Centre for the "denial of rice to Karnataka to help overcome hunger despite having a huge stock".
The Karnataka government had approached the FCI, which had initially agreed to sell 2.28 lakh metric tonne of rice every month at Rs 34 per kg on June 12 but it backtracked citing various exigencies on June 14, it was alleged.
"They had stock. If we had asked for free of cost then their denial was okay but we were ready to pay for it. We are not bargaining either. They are indulging in politics of hatred. It's an attack with mace on the poor. It's an injustice to the poor," Siddaramaiah alleged.
He charged that the FCI is now auctioning rice to sell it to private people but states are not entitled to participate in the auction.
"Look at their malafide intentions. States can't but private people can participate in the auction. It means they have a huge stock of rice. Only to scuttle our programme they are denying us rice which is meant for the poor people," the Chief Minister alleged.
The Karnataka government had approached three Central government agencies -- National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Limited, National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation and Kendriya Bhandar -- to supply rice at Rs 34 per kg but they quoted a high price, officials claimed.
Hitting out at BJP leaders in Karnataka, Siddaramaiah said former BJP Chief Ministers B S Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai should have asked the Centre to release rice to the state.
"These leaders should have exerted pressure on the Centre that it (Anna Bhagya) is a people's programme. Don't come on the way for such an initiative. Don't indulge in politics of hatred and release rice," Siddaramaiah said.
The Chief Minister further said that he had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah while Muniyappa had called on Union Minister for Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal who too declined to give rice to Karnataka.
"Hence, we will go for the open market tender. I have given instructions to start the process tomorrow itself,” he added.
