Close on the heels of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's tour of Bundelkhand, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav will be heading to the drought- hit region later this week even as his government wrote to the Centre seeking full coverage for it under the Food Security Act.
Akhilesh will on January 27 undertake the tour of the backward and drought-hit region, which has become a crucible of intense politics in the run up to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections next year.
He will visit Shahjahanpur village in Jalaun and hold a 'chaupal' with the villagers there. He will also be meeting public representatives, an official spokesperson said here today.
During his padayatra in Mahoba on January 23, Rahul had targeted both the BJP government at the Centre and the Samajwadi Party dispensation in Uttar Pradesh over their alleged apathy towards farmers.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary, Alok Ranjan, has written to the Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Secretary seeking that the entire population of Bundelkhand region be covered under the Food Security Act.
"Bundelkhand region is drought-hit. Demands are being made from different quarters to cover the entire population of the region under the Food Security Act.
"During a visit, I had found that Rabi crops could be grown only in 50 per cent of the land and there is also a shortage of fodder.
"The population of the region is not much and 80 per cent of it is already being covered under Food Security Act. It is not only essential but also necessary to cover the entire population (of Bundelkhand region) under the Act," Ranjan said in his letter.
Seven districts -- Banda, Chitrakoot, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Jhansi, Jalaun and Lalitpur -- should be covered under Food Security Act and the necessary foodgrain allocation should be made for the region for the next six months, he added.
The National Food Security Act, 2013, aims to provide subsidised foodgrains to approximately two-thirds of India's 1.2 billion people.
Ranjan also called for the inclusion of 65.84 lakh BPL beneficiaries under Antyodaya category for allotment of foodgrains as per the rules.
After the announcement of Rahul's Bundelkhand visit, Akhilesh had listed the initiatives taken by his government for the region to blunt the Congress vice president's attack.
The Bundelkhand region is home to 18.3 million people as per 2011 census and is blighted by drought and unseasonable rains that destroyed standing winter crops.
With Opposition parties getting active in Bundelkhand ahead of the the 2017 Assembly polls, Akhilesh has said his government would make the necessary efforts to address the issues confronting the region.
