Residents protest implementation of Food Act

Demanding rollback of the National Food Security Act (NFSA), residents today blocked the national highway at Satwari. They demanded that the Act should not be implemented in the state. Locals alleged that the new Act was aimed at depriving people of ration, which would not be accepted.
The highway remained blocked for more than one hour, which affected the movement of traffic, leading to chaos. Majority of the protesters alleged that ration dealers had refused to give them flour for this month and instead of that, they were being asked to accept wheat.
Meanwhile, displaced Kashmiri Pandits also today protested against the Act with demonstrations organised at migrant camps, where people demanded that ration should be distributed as per the old scale.
The protesters alleged that the NFSA should not be implemented as 5-kg sealing per person for a relief card holder was akin to rationing the food and would deprive families of their basic need.
Before the implementation of the Food Security Act, displaced Pandits were receiving 9 kg rice, 2 kg flour per person per month and 1 kg sugar per family per month under the relief category. Nearly 17,248 families living in Jammu are covered under this category and also receive financial assistance.
“Most of the families receiving ration under the relief category are dependent on cash assistance provided by the government and curtailing the ration will create a lot of problems for them. The Central Government should reconsider its decision,” said Sanjay Raina, president, Jagti Welfare Committee.
Protests were also reported from Muthi, Purkhoo, Nagrota and Jagti where displaced Pandits urged the government to continue with the old practices till the community is rehabilitated back in the Valley. Recently, a delegation of Pandits has also met Secretary, Revenue and Relief, Afzal Bhat apprising him of the opposition to the NFSA.
The NFSA is an ambitious Central Government project lying pending for the last three years and the previous BJP-PDP government had claimed that the Act would go a long way in streamlining the ration distribution system in J&K. As many as 74.13 lakh persons, comprising 60 per cent of the state’s population, will get subsidised ration.