Kolkata: After sparring over the supply and quality of rice given to West Bengal under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Annya Jojana scheme through ration shops, another dispute has now broken out over the supply of Masoor and Moong Dals. Central organisation National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) has informed the State Government that it cannot supply the preferred dals of the Bengal government.
The Centre has stated that wholesome Moong Dal can be supplied instead. But the State has said that people in Bengal generally dislike Moong Dal.
In a letter to the State Government, the Centre stated that with most Dal mills now either closed or operating with the reduced workforce, it is not possible to keep fulfiling the State’s request.
Instead, NAFED is willing to supply Arahar or Chole Dal. The State contends that most people in Bengal do not usually prefer the two above-mentioned kinds of cereal.
“From the very beginning, the Centre is discriminating with Bengal. First, it didn’t send food in the needed quantity. After that, the foodstuff was sent in phases, creating problems in distribution to all cardholders”, says State Food Minister Jyotipriya Mullick.
The dispute over dal had begun from the very first day. The Centre was to supply 5 kgs of rice and one kg of dal free for every person for three months under the PM ‘s Garib Kalyan Annya Yojana scheme. From the beginning, Bengal had questioned the quality of rice supplied by NAFED.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had mentioned it in her interaction with Cabinet colleagues. The State Food Minister had recently informed the Centre regarding the supply of dal to Bengal. But the State alleges that even after giving an undertaking NAFED went back on its words. In April, NAFED was to send 14,000 metric tons of dal to Bengal. But towards the end of April, NAFED sent first 4,000 metric tons and another 3,000 metric tons and after that another 3,000 metric tons. NAFED in similar letters to the State and the Centre has pleaded “helplessness”, according to Food Department sources.
