Piyush Goyal not supplying rice to Karnataka: Muniyappa

Karnataka Food and Consumer Affairs Minister K H Muniyappa on Friday said that Union Commerce and Food Minister Piyush Goyal had rejected his plea to supply additional rice to the state at subsidised rates, dealing a blow to the implementation of the Anna Bhagya scheme.

Muniyappa, who met Goyal in New Delhi, submitted a memorandum seeking 2.29 lakh tonnes of rice per month to the state. “As Kharif procurement season is over in most parts of the country, our efforts to source rice from other states or from the open market are becoming challenging,” he said in the memorandum.

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Discontinuation of OMSS (open market sale scheme) by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has brought difficulty to launch the new programme of giving additional 5 kg of rice per member per month, he further said in the memorandum.

Criticising the Union minister, Muniyappa said despite the FCI having a sufficient stock of rice, it refused to supply Karnataka because of political reasons.

Goyal had earlier suggested that the state government purchase rice from the open market and supply it to the poor.

The state government is making all efforts to procure rice from all sources and is committed to implement the Anna Bhagya scheme, Muniyappa said.