Ranchi, Oct. 4: Chief minister Raghubar Das today introduced direct benefit transfer (DBT) of cash for ration in Nagri block of Ranchi, the pilot project being tested as an alternative to the existing PDS besieged by charges of corruption and inefficiency.
The process to transfer cash to some 12,500 Nagri beneficiaries started from today.
The DBT experiment, which Das wants to replicate across the state if it works, has scope for political fireworks as it has not gone down well with Das's food and civil supplies minister and long-time party colleague from Jamshedpur, Saryu Roy, the Opposition and Right to Food activists.
Under DBT, the state will transfer Rs 1,106 every month to the bank account of a beneficiary to buy 35kg rice from the PDS outlet at Rs 31.60 per kg. So far, people paid Re 1 for a kilo to the dealer and the state the rest via food corporation.
"People often complain that PDS dealers don't give them their due share (35kg) of rice. But now (under DBT) they can get it with full cash payment, which will marginalise brokers. We have cancelled 11.64 lakh fake PDS ration cards, which saved us 72,000 tonnes of grain. We have issued 9.32 lakh new PDS ration cards and will ensure not a single needy person is left out," Das said today while launching DBT near Nagri block office.
Under DBT, the cash will also be recovered from the beneficiary by the state if he doesn't buy foodgrain for two consecutive months. Also, unlike before, the beneficiary is free to go to any ration shop with the money to buy grain.
Present in Nagri, food and civil supplies minister Saryu Roy advised people to register complaints against erratic PDS supplies and dealers. Though Roy did not directly criticise DBT today, in his recent interviews to the media in Jamshedpur and elsewhere, he had voiced his fears.
Repeatedly, Roy had said his department and food corporation were ill-prepared, citing manpower crunch, banking snags in remote areas and others.
Reacting to the cash transfer, JMM members staged a dharna in Nagri, arguing that DBT would increase the problems of poor beneficiaries.
Social outfit Right to Food Campaign also slammed the new system calling it a move to dismantle PDS. Food activists also said the new rule of taking back money from poor people if they didn't buy grain had potential for social chaos.
Atal machine
Chief minister Raghubar Das on Wednesday inaugurated a reeling-cum-twisting machine at Nagri designed by Central Tassar Research and Training Institute and named it after Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
