UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav is in no hurry to implement the food security programme in Uttar Pradesh.
The chief minister feels that “certain aspects” of the programme have ot be looked into before it is implemented.
“The Parliament has passed the food security bill but the expenditure on transport and the burden it will entail on the state exchequer is to be looked into. We will see how this can be implemented in the state. We are not in a hurry to implement the programme,” he told reporters. The Samajwadi government, apparently, does not wish to implement the food security bill in Uttar Pradesh which is considered to be the Congress trump card for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
“Why should we implement something which will benefit the Congress? We have enough schemes of our own to benefit the poor and we will focus on them,” said a senior UP minister.
Meanwhile, the state cabinet, at a meeting held late on Tuesday evening, also approved amendments to guidelines for implementing the SP poll promises of distributing saris and blankets to BPL (below poverty line) women and the elderly, respectively.
The state government had originally planned to distribute the saris and blankets last year and had even set aside `600 crore for the scheme.
However, procedural delays made it impossible to purchase and distribute the requisite numbers.