Govt welcomes positive criticism: K Shyam
Source: The Sangai Express / DIPR
Imphal, October 03 2017:
Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Karam Shyam today said that the Government under the leadership of Chief Minister N Biren Singh is firm in its stand to work for the development of the State.
Speaking to media persons at his official residence at Sanjenthong, Karam Shyam said that constructive criticism on the policies and programmes undertaken by the Government is always welcomed .
The Minister said that it is unfortunate that baseless allegations were levelled by a spokesperson of a political party accusing the Minister of swindling SK Oil quota allotted to the MLAs .
The Minister said that the press meet today was arranged to clear doubts of the general public of Manipur and not to any particular individual or organisation.
The false allegations have misled the general public about the clear intentions of the Government which is working for the welfare of the people of the State .
Stating that SK Oil is one of the PDS items provided at subsidised rate to selected beneficiaries, the Minister said the State Government cannot allocate any of the PDS items except to the beneficiaries.
He said that, the acknowledgment paper stating the salaries and allowances of MLAs including other facilities, which was shown by the spokesperson of a political party, has been misinterpreted as an ‘Order’ passed by the State Assembly .
In the acknowledgment paper titled "Entitlement of a Member/Ex-Member under the provisions of the salaries & allowances of Members of the Legislative Assembly (Manipur) Act, 1972 (As Amended upto 20th Amendment Act, 2014), in the other facilities column it is stated that 'SK Oil of 3000 litres per month was provided by the Government'.
Clarifying that the acknowledgment paper is merely a statement and not an Order, he said quantity of SK Oil for the MLAs cannot be fixed as it depends on availability/stock .
He said the Central Government is responsible for procurement, storage, transportation and bulk allocation of all PDS items including SK Oil.
The State Government is responsible for distributing the same to the consumers through the established network of Fair Price Shops (FPSs).
State governments are also responsible for operational responsibilities including allocation and identification of beneficiaries, he added .
The present Government which took charge in March 2017 cleared the backlog (SK Oil for the MLAs) by the previous Government for 4 months (December 2016, January till March 2017).In June 2017, the backlogs were cleared by allotting 12 KL (Kilo Litre) of kerosene (3KL for each month).
The Minister stated that the SK Oil is provided by the Government from the 'Reserve Pool' of the Directorate kept for emergency purpose and the availability of SK Oil depends on the allocation by the Centre to the State.
Comment
