Andhra Pradesh expresses inability to pay Rs 4,000 crore for food scheme

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Hyderabad: The state needs an additional 1.76 lakh tonnes of rice per month to implement the UPA government’s ambitious Food Security Scheme. The state government is already supplying four lakh tonnes of rice for over 2.23 crore white ration card holders under the public distribution system, covering nearly eight crore population in the state.
The new scheme is expected to increase the subsidy burden on the state exchequer to Rs 4,850 crore and the government expressed its inability to bear such a heavy burden unless the Centre shares part of it.
Minister for civil supplies D. Sridhar Babu said that as per the norms stipulated by the Centre, under the Food Security Scheme, only 4.6 crore population would be covered and for the rest 3.4 crore people, the state government has to bear the subsidy burden.
“It was earlier decided to implement the Food Security Scheme in the state, from August 20. But we have now postponed it since the Bill is yet to be passed in Parliament. We will take up the issue of additional subsidy burden on the state on account of the scheme and seek financial assistance from the Centre for the same,” Babu said.
The minister is scheduled to meet Union food minister K.V. Thomas at New Delhi, on Monday, to discuss on the issue. The government is exploring options to procure additional rice to implement the scheme. It is considering procuring stocks directly from the farmers or through the Food Corporation of India.
The civil supplies department officials are of the view that if rice procurement levy is continued, at 75 per cent, besides allowing the state to procure rice from FCI, it would help in reducing the subsidy burden to some extent.
However, the government is expected to take a final decision on the implementation of the scheme only after the Food Security Bill gets approval in Parliament.