Jammu, Mar 25: The main opposition People’s Democratic Party Thursday created uproar in the state legislative assembly and staged walkout over the alleged ration scarcity across the state.
Minister for Consumer Affairs and Transport, Qamar Ali Akhoon, in reply to the question of Abdul Haq Khan and Mehbooba Mufti said that additional ration of 15 Kgs, per family, was being provided from January this year to the rationees by lifting extra 35,000 MTs under the Central Government’s Open Market Sale Scheme-Domestic (OMSS-D) and Adhoc allocations.
He said that the centre has allocated additional 1.65 lakh MTs under the twin provisions, but on higher rates. He said   so far the state has lifted a total of 1 lakh MTs for three months at a cost of Rs 158.32 crore.
Responding to the queries about the measures being taken to meet the shortfall of the allocations, the Minister said the gap was being filled by diverting the variation in off-take in various areas.
 The Minister said that presently the State is getting ration quota as per the population projections of 2001 census and over a decade the population has swelled by over 1.58 lakh. He said the Government, as a long-term measure, was committed to project the increased population in a proper manner to the Centre so that the shortfall in the allocations was done away with. He further said that sugar and other commodities are also being provided to the people as per the set scale.
 The admission about the shortfall in the ration supply, however, attracted criticism from the PDP members. “It is surprising that the state was getting only 60,000 MTS against the requirement of 1.58 lakh MTS which accounts to about 52 % shortfall in total requirement,” the PDP members lamented.
 Expressing dissatisfaction over the reply by the minister, the members came near the well of the House and shouted anti-government slogans. When the opposition members were protesting, Political Advisor to Chief minister, Mubarak Gul, accused the opposition of unnecessarily blowing the matter out of proportion. He said the minister has given elaborate and clear reply.
 However, the opposition did not pay any heed to Gul’s comments and continued protest.
 The Speaker Legislative Assembly also made repeated attempts to restore the order in the house but the opposition continued to disrupt the proceedings creating pandemonium for about ten minutes. They later staged walk out.
 Earlier, raising supplementaries on his question, MLA Lolab, Abdul Haq Khan, wanted to know what steps the government was taking to meet the deteriorating situation in the food supplies department.
 Questioning the credibility of the government, Abdul Rehman Veeri, who also asked a similar question, on behalf of the Party President Mehbooba Mufti, said that the Government had failed to implement the cabinet decision of giving 11 KG ration per head. He also wanted to know as to how the government was providing ration to 1.52 lakh rationees which have been added over the past ten years after the 2001 census, as admitted by the government in the written reply.
 Members from the treasury benches, Mir Saifullah, M Y Targami, and Nazir Ahmed Gurezi also raised quarries about the availability of ration commodities on the PDS sale outlets.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 25 Mar 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 26 Mar 2010 00:00:00 IST