Destitutes and homeless brought under National Food Security Act

Bhubaneswar: At a time when the state government is under attack for listing ineligible beneficiaries for ration cards under the National Food Security Act, it informed the assembly on Saturday that it has included a number of destitute and homeless families to counter the criticism.
Food supplies and consumer welfare minister Sanjay Das Burma said the state government has included 14,830 destitute families (54,892 persons) under the food Act.
The minister also said total 47,537 families (1,68,798 persons) without any shelter are covered under the Act, which guarantees 5 kg rice or wheat per head at a subsidized price.
According to the reply, maximum 1,670 destitute families (5,988 persons) are from Nabarangapur district followed by 1,646 families (6,275 persons) in Ganjam and 1,366 families (4,641 persons) in Sundargarh district.
As far as homeless families are concerned, highest 5,469 families covering 20,342 persons are covered under the Act in Khurda district followed by 5,362 homeless families in Ganjam and 4,240 families in Balasore district. In a separate reply, Das Burma said though the government aims to cover total 3.26 crore people under the NFSA, so far it has included 3.16 lakh people (84, 40,545 families).
The government has set nine parameters to select beneficiaries under the Act, he added.
The government was in the eye of the storm over alleged irregularities in preparation of the NFSA ration card beneficiary list. The controversy erupted on December 28 when the then Cuttack's mayor Anita Behera's name was found to be on the list. Later, she resigned.
In the days after, reports started pouring in from across the state that the NFSA ration card list featured a number of ineligible beneficiaries. Even wife of BJD MLA Rajib Patra (Baliguda assembly segment) got the ration card under the NFSA. As appealed by the state government, total 88,178 ineligible families, who availed ration cards by submitting fake documents, have surrendered their cards.