With an eye on the Assembly polls due later this year, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today announced that wheat, rice and iodised salt would be provided at highly subsidised rates to below-poverty-line and 'Antyodaya' families.
Wheat and salt would be provided at Rs 1 per kg and rice at Rs 2 per kg under the Mukhyamantri Annapurna Scheme, official sources said.
The scheme will start from June 1.
The decision will put a burden of Rs 360 crore on the government and benefit eight lakh Antyodaya families and 56 lakh BPL families, covering nearly 3.5 crore people, almost half the population of the state.
At present, Antyodaya families get 35 kg of food grains and BPL families get 20 kg of food grains per month at subsidised rates: wheat at Rs 2 per kg and rice at Rs 3 per kg. Under the Centre's proposed Food Security Bill, same rates are contemplated.
Earlier, subsidised iodised salt was provided only to tribal families, the new scheme would extend the benefit to a wider section of the population.
