Govt to launch food security scheme but lacks basic infrastructure

THANE: When Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and chief minister Prithviraj Chavan launch United Progressive Alliance's (UPA) flagship food security scheme from the district at Airoli today, it will be done without the basic infrastructure in place. Also, the list of possible beneficiaries from Thane has not been prepared yet, said district administration sources.
It looks unlikely to finish identification of beneficiaries, setting up of temporary godowns and deploying additional trucks to ferry the grains in Thane's hinterland, before the big event. It will take another two to three months for the basic infrastructure to be arranged, district officials told TOI.
"We will need to double the number of trucks deployed at the moment, but that has not been arranged. The beneficiary list is yet not ready.
There are a lot of hiccups and these could take another three months to weed out for a smooth launch," said a senior district official. Sources in district administration admitted they are still scratching their heads over fixing the criteria to identify beneficiaries even as the state has issued clear set of income and other
the criteria for the scheme.
In rural areas, persons with an annual income ranging between Rs 15,001 and Rs 45,000 are eligible, while in urban areas, beneficiaries' income should be within the range of Rs 15,001 to Rs 59,000. The below poverty line (BPL) and Antodaya beneficiaries will be included and 76.32% of above poverty line (APL) beneficiaries in rural and 45.34% in urban areas must also be coveredas per the state guidelines on the FSS.
However, in as many as five of the 13 talukas in Thane district, the percentage of APL beneficiaries is already exceeding the 76.32% and 45.34% mark. These are the tribal dominated belts and district authorities are clueless how to identify the additional beneficiaries here.