Atta-Dal scheme under EC scanner

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 6

The SAD-BJP government’s flagship Atta-Dal scheme, which played a key role in the alliance’s victory in the 2012 elections, is under the scanner of the Election Commission.

The newly issued blue cards – which enable 1.41 crore holders (almost 80 per cent of the state’s population) to get wheat at Re 1 per kg – bear the photographs of CM Parkash Singh Badal and Food Minister Adaish Partap Singh Kairon. The distribution of wheat on the basis of these cards tantamounts to promotion of the Akali Dal.

When these new blue cards were being printed, it only had a detachable booklet highlighting the features of the scheme, bearing only Kairon’s photograph. However, a section of the Akali Dal had raised a hue and cry over the absence of the CM’s photo. It was then that the CM’s photo stickers were pasted on the cover page or inside.

Opposition leaders are alleging that wheat and dal are being distributed among the beneficiaries in the presence of a vigilance committee — which comprises persons owing allegiance to the Akali Dal.

Sources in the Food and Supplies Department told The Tribune that the beneficiaries received their first six-monthly stock (April to September) in June-July 2016, while the second instalment (October to March) was currently under distribution. Almost 4,000 metric tonnes of wheat was to be distributed, but by the time the code of conduct was imposed on January 4, the department had distributed 81 percent of the wheat. Three hundred metric tonnes of urad dal was being distributed for December. Most of it had been given away before January 4, but the distribution of the rest has been stopped. The department has now sought the EC’s permission before distributing the remaining wheat.