Clear transparency in distributing rice during pandemic lockdown —Pukhayi

Our Correspondent
Kohima, Dec. 14 (EMN): Advisor for Food and Civil Supplies, Pukhayi on Monday said that people all over the world have undergone unprecedented hardships and untold miseries due to the impact of the novel coronavirus.
He asserted that the battle with the dreaded virus is not yet over and the world has come together to combat this deadly virus.

“Nagaland is no exception to this,” he said while talking to a section of press here in Kohima on December 14.

The advisor maintained that his department ‘swung into action’ when the nationwide lockdown for curbing the spread of coronavirus was announced in March this year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Pukhayi said that his department accelerated the distribution of rice to all ration cardholders in the state under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), besides distributing 5 kg of rice per head and 1 kg pulses per household under PM Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY), free of cost during the pandemic induced lockdown.

All the migrant workers in the state also availed rice and pulses during the pandemic, he added.

The amount of rice under various schemes including PMGKAY coming from Delhi to the state during the pandemic was immediately sent to all the districts through the respective district task forces (DTFs), he said, adding all deputy commissioners (DCs), who are chairmen of DTFs, sent reports of their distribution works to Delhi, he added.

“There is a clear transparency and accountability in receiving the rice and dispatching them to all DTFs because they were immediately sent to them (DTFs) after unloading from the wagons at Dimapur,” he added.

“I am happy that there is no complaint from any quarters about the distribution of rice during the pandemic,” he shared

Pukhayi also reminded citizens of the state to continue using facemasks, wash their hands and maintain social distancing as these are essential in combating and preventing the infectious virus.