CPI(M) blames UPA for grain shortage

Govt hits back, says violence against PDS dealers in Bengal is a result of state's mismanagement.

The UPA government, which has managed to buy temporary peace with the CPI(M) over the civil nuclear deal with the US, is in another spat with its key supporter.

Even though the government has announced a number of schemes for the aam aadmi in recent times, an influential section of the CPI(M) has once again accused it of "punishing the poor".

As the issue of grain shortage in ration shops in West Bengal snowballs into violence against the dealers, CPI(M) Politburo member Brinda Karat, in a letter to Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, has cited "huge cuts in allocations of foodgrain for APL (above poverty line) card-holders" as the main reason for the shortage.

Karat, a Rajya Sabha MP from West Bengal, said, "Such drastic measures by the Central government are a punishment for the poor, which include a large number of APL card-holders, for no fault of theirs."

Karat's letter comes after her duel with Pawar over wheat imports. According to party insiders, this signals that the Left will not spare any opportunity to attack the Centre on issues concerning common people.

Karat's letter said that the monthly rice allocation to the state till March 2007 was 229,000 tonnes but in April, only 7,700 tonnes was sent. Similarly, the allocation of wheat was reduced to 49,040 tonnes in April from 98,112 tonnes in April last year, she said.

"Since open market prices of foodgrain are high, APL card-holders find APL prices much more affordable and therefore the demand for foodgrain from the PDS (public distribution system) increases."

Karat has also requested Pawar to increase the allocation for West Bengal in view of the coming festival season.

However, the agriculture ministry officials reject these charges. According to a senior official, for the last four to five years, APL card-holders in West Bengal have not drawn their full quota. They said the allocation was based on previous records of allotment and consumption and the state government still had stocks to last two months.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi has, however, blamed the state government.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today, Dasmunshi said, "The BPL (below poverty line) list itself is not in perfect order in Bengal due to over-politicisation of the process."

He sought "immediate intervention" of the prime minister in maintenance of the public distribution system in the state.