The West Bengal government has formed a committee led by chief secretary Sanjoy Mitra to look into the implementation of the National Food Security Act.
State food minister Jyotipriyo Mullick said the government was not in favour of the demarcation of 75 per cent rural population and 51 per cent urban population for receiving the benefits.
"We want this to be extended to 100 per cent of the population in Bengal, so that everybody can benefit," Mullick said.
Senior state Congress leader and MLA Manas Bhuniya blamed the Trinamool Congress regime for depriving five crore people as it failed to implement the National Food Security Act.
"They have failed to implement it because of their lackadaisical administrative and political attitude. This is their failure to identify 75 per cent beneficiaries in rural areas and 51 per cent in urban areas," Bhuniya said.
Bhuniya alleged that the food minister's demand to extend the scheme's reach to 100 per cent populations was a ploy to include beneficiaries of other state-sponsored projects under this scheme.
"The state government doesn't have the needed storage facilities to avail of food grains under the food security scheme," Bhuniya said.
