Free foodgrains given to 1.91 crore people in Telangana: Centre

HYDERABAD: The Centre on Saturday said that it provided subsidised or free foodgrains to 1.91 crore people in Telangana. Following the ongoing tussle between the state government and the Centre over the issue of foodgrain distribution, the Centre, in a release said, Telangana had 54.19 lakh ration cards and about 1.91 crore beneficiaries under National Food Security Act (NFSA).

It said that allocation of foodgrains and subsidy borne by the Centre under the National Food Security Act saw Telangana get 1,08,000 tonnes of rice. The Centre bore monthly subsidy burden of Rs 364 crore and Rs 4,367.5 crore annually for Telangana by providing subsidised rice at the Central Issue price of Rs 3 per kg while the economic cost of the same is Rs 36.7 per kg.

The Centre also bore that the entire cost from procurement till distribution while Telangana provided a nominal subsidy of Rs 2 per kg of rice provided to the NFSA beneficiaries at Rs 1 per kg, it said.

It said additional free foodgrains under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana account for 95,811 tonnes of free rice being provided per month to NFSA beneficiaries of Telangana with a monthly subsidy burden of Rs 351 crore. So far, out of 24 lakh tonnes allocated to the state, 20.64 LMT has been distributed in all the six phases of the Yojana, the Centre said.