Student bodies demand
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, April 10 2020:
Student bodies namely; AIMS, ANSAM and DESAM have urged the authority concerned to calculate and announce the Constituency-wise rice allocation which would be distributed free of cost to public as a relief measure amidst the country-wide lockdown triggered by COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking on behalf of the three student bodies, DESAM president Nameirakpam Edison said that the Chief Minister and the CAF&PD Minister should announce the Constituency-wise rice allocation through media by tomorrow.
Many individuals, CSOs and the Government have been providing relief materials to the masses who have been reeling under the prolonged lockdown.
Of all the relief materials, rice is the most important.
However, there have been many complaints of people not getting rice at all and that people staying in rented rooms/houses were left out, Edison said.
The best way to address these complaints and the concomitant distrust is to announce the Constituency-wise rice allocation, he said.
Citing FCI sources, Edison said that the State has lifted 13,507 MT of rice including 2,226 MT for AAY and 11,281 for Priority Households.
However, the quantities to be allocated or allocated to the 60 Assembly segments are not known.
These should be announced to the public, asserted the DESAM president.
If the Constituency-wise rice allocation cannot be announced, there is no reason for the people not to assume that the CAF&PD Minister has been in connivance with the MLAs who have been looting people's share of rice, he added.