Farooq Abdullah urges GoI to ensure full supply of Ration Quota to J&K

Amid resentment against reduction in supply of ration in Kashmir valley, member of Parliament from Srinagar and member of Parliamentary Committee on Food, Farooq Abdullah on Sunday said that the government of India has reduced the ration quota supplied to Jammu and Kashmir and has asked for its restoration.

Abdullah, who is president of the National Conference, said that he was hopeful of a restoration of full ration supply as rice was the staple diet of people in the Valley.

“As far as ration is concerned, the government of India has reduced the quota. We have made an appeal, as I am a member of the Parliamentary Committee for Food. We have requested to restore our earlier quota as we are rice eating people here. We hope that they will look into it,” Abdullah said, while talking to media persons in Srinagar.

Every now and then, people in Kashmir valley have been protesting against the reduction of the monthly ration supply to half for the past one year now. The main reason was the stopping of ration supply under the Jammu Kashmir Food Entitlement Program or Food Entitlement Scheme (JKFES). Abdullah also urged the authorities to make sure that they look into the availability of power and water in the summer.

“Every year we face these difficulties (power outages). Since the rains were good so far, the electricity situation was fine so far. We hope that our power situation remains good in the coming days as well. I will request the government to focus on the issue,” he said. He said that the government should concentrate on proper portable water supply. “Scarcity of water does happen but so far it is not that grave. But they (government) should certainly look into it,” he said.

Kashmir valley has been witnessing daily unscheduled curtailment of power much to the chagrin of people as the summer is here. Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited is resorting to daily power cuts in metered as well as non-metered areas.