India News | Odisha Govt Extends Free Rice Scheme for 9.05 Lakh Beneficiaries for 3 More Months
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Odisha government on Saturday asked officials to extend the free distribution of rice among 9.05 lakh people under its State Food Security Scheme for three more months.
Bhubaneswar, Oct 1 (PTI) The Odisha government on Saturday asked officials to extend the free distribution of rice among 9.05 lakh people under its State Food Security Scheme for three more months.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik directed the officials to distribute five kilograms of rice per month free of cost to beneficiaries of the scheme till December end, an official said.
Altogether 2.92 lakh families will get benefit from it, he said.
The direction came two days after the Centre extended its programme to provide free rations to the poor at Rs 44,762 crore as it looked to ease pain from high inflation.
The state government had earlier launched the SFSS for the poor people who were left out of the national food security programme.
As per the chief minister's directive, each beneficiary of the SFSS will get five kg of rice for free during the October-December period, the official said.
Altogether, 13,575 tonnes of rice will be supplied from the state pool at an expenditure of Rs 49 crore, an official statement said.
The beneficiaries availed of the benefit of the state scheme for six months from April 2022.
The Centre launched the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana during the COVID-19 pandemic to distribute free rations.
As many as 3.26 crore people from Odisha are covered under the National Food Security Act.
(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)