Bhubaneswar, Oct. 10: On a day chief minister Naveen Patnaik reviewed functioning of the Rs 2-a-kg rice scheme for the poor, the Congress reiterated its demand to include it under the Centre’s direct transfer of cash subsidy programme.

The cash subsidy programme is, however, limited to disbursement of scholarships, pensions and wage payment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme. The subsidy also applies to payments for kerosene given through the public distribution system (PDS).

“Since the state government is trying to take credit for these programmes and create an impression as if they own them, the rice scheme should be brought under the cash subsidy. The Centre is giving Rs 15 as subsidy for every kilogram of PDS rice,” said Pradesh Congress Committee president Niranjan Patnaik. The state government spends Rs 4.40 a kg to provide rice at Rs 2 a kg.

Though speculation about the inclusion of cheap rice under subsidy has been going on for the past sometime, an official here said: “It was highly unlikely considering the fact that the UPA is working on the National Food Security Bill, which would facilitate distribution of subsidised rice throughout the country.”

Besides, some of the states, including the Congress-run Kerala, are also opposed to any attempt at rice being brought under cash transfer scheme since their PDS networks are working strong.

However, senior Congress leader Narasingh Mishra, who had earlier met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi on the issue, said: “Discussion on including it under the subsidy scheme is over. A decision will be taken shortly.”

Under the scheme, the subsidy amount is directly transferred to the beneficiaries’ account. The beneficiary, in case the scheme is applied to rice, will be free to buy it from open market.

While refusing to comment on the speculation about cheap rice being brought under subsidy, state food and civil supply minister Pratap Keshari Deb said: “We have been told that sugar and kerosene scheme will be covered under the subsidy scheme. If they also take rice under it, we will have no problem. We will transfer our share to the beneficiary’s account.”

The Centre, which gives a subsidy of Rs 16.84 paise for each kilogram of rice, provides the commodity to the state at Rs 5.65 a kg. The state spends another 75 paise per kilogram on transporting rice to the distribution centres.”

Our cost comes to around Rs 6.40 a kg rice. For each kilogram of rice, our financial burden is Rs 4.40, which ensures that people get rice at Rs 2 per kg,” said Deb.

The state government spends nearly Rs 1,090 crore per annum on the cheap rice scheme. The Centre is providing the state 97,131 metric tonnes of rice under the BPL category, 637 metric tonnes of rice under the Annapurn and 12,53,252 metric tonnes of rice under the Antodaya Annapurna Yojana schemes.

While the Centre is allotting 35kg of rice for each BPL family, the state is giving the beneficiaries 25kg of rice. “This is because we provide the rice to a much larger section of the population whereas the Centre’s calculation of BPL families in the state is much lower,” said Deb.