"We do not agree with his (Ramesh's) figures. As per our estimates, Odisha would get 2.109 million tonne foodgrains per year based on new Food Security Bill, instead of 2.189 million tonne of current allotment," said Pratap Keshari Deb, state food and civil supplies minister.
On Tuesday, Ramesh had shot off a letter to Deb, stating the state government had made wrong calculations regarding food grain allocation under the new Bill.
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Stating that Odisha's average annual off take of food grains under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TDPS) has been 2.077 million tonne since 2010, the Central minister had said it would rise to 2.109 million tonne under the new National Food Security Bill-2013.
Deb said the figure of 2.077 million tonne has been arrived at by taking average offtake numbers for three years and do not tally with the actual annual allocation figure of 2.189 million tonne.
Earlier, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had said that overall rice allotment to the state would decrease from 1, 82,000 tonne per month at present to 1,70,000 tonne after the implementation of the new Bill.
The new system provides for 5 kg of food grains per person every month whereas as under the present system followed by the state government each family is getting 25 kg per month.
Under the new Bill, small families and old couples living alone may get only 10-15 kg of food grains per month, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) had alleged.
It had also said that the new Bill does not mention about provisions for special groups like Annapurna beneficiaries, emergency feeding and rice to SC/ST Hostels.