New Delhi, May 12 (PTI) Delhi BJP leaders, including party MLAs, on Wednesday staged a protest outside Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence, accusing the Delhi government of failing to distribute ration to 72 lakh people during the COVID-19-induced lockdown.

Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta, who led the protest, said lakhs of people, including the poor and marginalized and the 72 lakh ration card holders, were being deprived of free ration for May and June, announced by the Narendra Modi government, due to the failure of the Delhi government.

He demanded that the Delhi government take steps to implement the scheme without any further delay.

The delegation, including Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, submitted a memorandum addressed to the chief minister, during the protest.

The Delhi government on Tuesday withdrew a previous order by it that stated ration under the public distribution system for May will be provided to the beneficiaries at usual subsidised rates.

Earlier this month, Kejriwal had announced free ration to 72 lakh ration card holders in May and June to help them tide over the lockdown period.

The BJP leaders wanted to meet the chief minister and hand him over the memorandum but their request was declined, said a Delhi BJP statement.

The BJP memorandum stated that the Modi government has allocated free rations for 72 lakh ration cards holders for the month of May and June under the Pradhan Mantri Kalyan Anna Yojana.

In this scheme and under the Food Security Act, the Centre was providing for 8 kg of wheat and two kg of rice. Already almost two weeks of May month have passed but no distribution of free rations has taken place in Delhi, it said.

The Delhi government should not delay any further the formal orders for distribution of the rations. The central government is spending Rs 250 crore per month for providing free rations to the poor, it added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)