GUWAHATI, June 24 ? Over 2.8 lakh poorest of the poor (green card holder) families in the State were deprived of the rice distributed at Rs 3 a kg by the Government of India under its Antyodaya Anna Yojana during March to October last year due to delay in implementation of the scheme in the State by the Food and Civil Supplies Department. The audit team of Accountant General, Assam while examining the audit of the Director of Food and Civil Supplies, detected the delay in implementation of the scheme which failed the green card holder families in the State of rice worth about Rs 16.89 crore during the period mentioned above.
The audit team also detected excess expenditure of Rs 1,20,435 for printing green cards for poorest of the poor families in the State and also an excess amount of Rs 46,540 drawn for transportation of rice etc. The audit further observed that identification of the families under the Yojana should have been completed within the third week of February, 2001, but the same could be completed on November 11, 2001 and the scheme could be implemented in the State from November, 2001. Due to delay in identification of beneficiary families, altogether 2,81,500 poorest of the poor families in the State could not draw the highly subsidised rice distributed at the rate of 25 kg per family per month at a cost of Rs 3 per kg. from March, 2001 to October, 2001. The total value of the rice that could not be drawn by the entitled families amounted to Rs 16.89 crore.
Antyodaya Anna Yojana was launched by the Government of India on December 25, 2000 for the estimated five per cent population of the country who are unable to buy two square meals a day on a sustained basis throughout the year. These families are not even capable of buying foodgrains even at the below poverty line (BPL) rates. This five per cent population amount to five crore people or one crore families. The Yojana aims at identification of this one crore families out of the BPL families and to provide them with foodgrains at the rate of 25 kg per family per month. The foodgrains would be issued by the GOI at the rate of Rs 2 per kg in case of wheat and Rs 3 per kg in case of rice and which should be the retail rate also as the State Governments were supposed to bear the transportation cost. As per the 1991 census, Assam has total 18.36 lakh BPL households out of which 2,81,500 families are marked poorest of the poor who are the target group for Antyodaya Anna Yojana.