Odisha Chief Minister asks officials to add real beneficiaries NFSA

Bhubaneswar, Nov 19: Taking serious note over the irregularities in the list of beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act (NFSA), Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik directed district collectors to take department and legal action against officials and panchayatraj members.

He reviewed the NFSA implementation in the state at a meeting held at State Secretariat here on Wednesday. The Chief Minister directed officials to remove the illegitimate beneficiaries  and add deserving beneficiaries under the scheme.

Notably, the scheme has been launched to ensure food security for the poor and downtrodden people in the state. For the implementation of the scheme, the state government has distributed digitised ration cards through which they would be provide rice and wheat. The scheme has been implemented in 14 districts under first phase.

President of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee, Prasad Harichandan had alleged that around 90 lakh deserving beneficiaries were excluded from the list prepared under NFSA scheme. He also blamed the state government for delaying the implementation of food security scheme in the state by two years.