Newly-elected Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday announced rollout of the doorstep ration delivery scheme in the state.
In a video message, Mann said that people would no longer need to stand in queues or skip work to get ration.
“Even after 75 years of independence, our people are standing in queues,” Mann said. “Today we are going to change this system.”
Mann said government employees will call beneficiaries and deliver the ration to their homes as per their convenience and availability. He said the scheme will be optional and people can still avail ration directly from the depot.
“You [ the beneficiaries] will get good quality ration,” the chief minister said in the video message, according to NDTV. “What people commonly consume, what rich [people] consume, you will get the same flour and pulses.”
Mann added that the scheme was first launched in New Delhi by the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party government.
“But unfortunately it [the scheme] was stopped,” the chief minister said, according to PTI. “But in Punjab, we are going to implement this scheme and we will run it successfully.”
The Centre has repeatedly sought to stall the doorstep ration delivery scheme in Delhi. It has argued that under the National Food Security Act, a state government is not entitled to change the mode of distribution of foodgrains.
Under the scheme, the Delhi government had planned to provide packaged wheat flour, rice and sugar at the doorstep of beneficiaries of the ration system.
‘Demand for this scheme will increase’
Reacting to Monday’s announcement by Mann, Kejriwal said that if the doorstep ration delivery scheme is successfully implemented in Punjab, people from other states will start demanding it.
“Time for this idea has come,” Kejriwal said. “They [Centre] won’t let it get implemented in Delhi, but it will be implemented in Punjab. And, the whole country will see.”
Kejriwal alleged that several projects initiated by the Delhi government have been blocked by the central government, The Indian Express reported. “The mohalla clinic project was stalled for two years. The CCTV project was stopped for three years, but we did it finally.”
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