Chandigarh, March 19
In an effort to provide the cheap atta and daal to more number of people in Punjab, the state government tonight raised the income eligibility limit for recipients of this scheme. Now, any family that has an income less than Rs 30,000 annually will be eligible. This limit was at Rs 20,000 per annum.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of deputy commissioners from all over the state presided over by the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal here. The Chief Minister also said the DCs would conduct a fresh survey to ascertain who were eligible under the new income limit. This decision would significantly enlarge the base area of beneficiaries for the welfare of the poor. The constricting stipulations of below the poverty line norms laid down by the Government of
India had been waived, said a spokesperson of the government here tonight.
Badal asked the deputy commissioners to get a foolproof survey conducted under their supervision to assess the eligible beneficiaries as per the guidelines that would be issued by the state government shortly. The survey would be completed by May 15.The two nodal departments of rural development and panchayats and the local government would be entrusted with the task of the compilation of data relating to survey in the rural and urban areas within the prescribed parameters.
Badal also asked the minister of food and civil supplies Adesh Partap Singh Kairon to depute a special team to study the pattern of public distribution system (PDS) being followed in the states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The team will report back within 10 days.
Meanwhile, during the monitoring of arrangements for the wheat procurement during the current season, Badal categorically instructed the DCs to personally supervise the overall procurement arrangements and ensure that payment to farmers was made within 48 hours. He said the entire procurement should be over by May 31.
The Reserve Bank of India has advanced a cash-credit limit of Rs 7,428 crore for the procurement of approximately 81 lakh metric tones of wheat. The DCs will also constitute procurement dispute settlement committees so that a complaint is settled at the local level without any delay. These committees will function at the mandi, sub-division and district levels.
