BENGALURU: The Congress government, which is looking high and low for supply of rice for the Anna Bhagya scheme, will not be able to deliver on the 10 kg rice promise from July 1 and will be looking at rolling out the scheme only from August 1.
Food, Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs Minister K H Muniyappa, who was in Delhi to meet central ministers, returned as he could not meet Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Piyush Goyal.
However, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has raised the issue with Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his meeting on Wednesday. Karnataka is also holding discussions with other states for the supply of rice, but nothing has been firmed up yet.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters at his Sadashivanagar residence on Thursday, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said, “We are not asking for rice for free. We are in a federal structure and we are looking at options, including purchasing from other states. Our party is different and we will keep our word”.
The Chhattisgarh government has agreed to provide one lakh tons of rice, but only for one month. The state is now finding it difficult to arrange another 1.28 lakh tons. It is also coordinating with the three central agencies NCCF, NAFED and Central Warehousing Corporation. Already, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have refused to sell rice and the state is left with the only option of buying from the open market.
On the other hand, rice mill owners have threatened to raise the prices of rice by Rs 5-10 per kg folllowing the steep hike in commercial power tariff. They have threatened to increase the price per quintal by anywhere between Rs 400 to Rs 800 per quintal if the electricity tariff is not revised downward.
There are about 2,000 rice mills in the state and process about 30,000-40,000 tons of rice. The power tariff hike has come as a huge shock for them. Prices of rice may increase by Rs 15 as early as next week, they warned. The prices have already increased in the wholesale market and is expected to increase further.