The Union government withheld funds to the tune of Rs 7,000 crore under the National Food Security Act from the West Bengal government because Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photographs were not displayed at all ration shops in the state despite instructions, The Indian Express reported.

The newspaper quoted an unidentified senior official from the state’s food department as saying that the Centre had imposed two conditions for transfer of funds.

“One, a flex or banners carrying a photograph of the prime minister should be placed in front of every ration shop,” the official said. “Second, the National Food Safety Authority logo must be on the acknowledgment slip issued from the point-of-sale machine.”

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Neither condition was reportedly followed. “Initially, the Central government issued a warning, but later decided to stop giving money to the state under the scheme,” the official said.

The funds were meant to procure staple food commodities for six crore beneficiaries in West Bengal. After the Centre withheld the disbursal of Rs 7,000 crore, the state began procuring paddy through its public distribution system, hoping to procure 70 lakh tonnes in the financial year 2022-’23. The state has managed to procure just 30% of the target so far, The Indian Express quoted a senior official as saying.

The Right to Food and Work Campaign, West Bengal, said that the Centre’s decision to withold funds was a “frightening display of dictatorial tendencies”. It said that schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana have also been hindered in West Bengal due to “political revenge”.

The civil society group said: “The public distribution system...is a ‘right’ for citizens rather than a ‘gift’...Instead of properly partnering with state governments to develop the system, the central government appears to be more concerned with highlighting its accomplishments,” it added.