Guarantee of Rs 500 gas cylinder will be implemented within 100 days: Uttam

Hyderabad: Irrigation and Food and Civil Supplies Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy reiterated that the Congress government would implement two Six Guarantee promises of gas cylinders at Rs 500 and the bonus of Rs 500 per quintal for paddy within 100 days of coming to power.

"I've conducted a detailed review of the functioning of the civil supplies department to get an overview of how these two guarantees could be implemented efficiently," he said at a press conference after holding a review meeting.

The number of beneficiaries for the LPG scheme was being worked out and might cost up to Rs 4,000 crore per annum.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the state had 89,98,546 food security cards and nearly 11.02 lakh applications were pending and these would be disposed of soon. He said nearly 11 per cent of beneficiaries were not using their ration cards.

Through the public distribution system (PDS), 6,47,479 cardholders were getting 6 kg of rice for free of which 5 kg was being provided by the Centre. Almost 90 per cent of rice provided by the Centre and state government for Rs 39.02 per kg was not edible. The beneficiaries are selling the PDS rice for as low as Rs 5 per kg, the minister said.

Uttam Kumar Reddy accused the BRS government of leaving the Civil Supplies Corporation with a debt of Rs 52,067.03 crore, paying an interest of Rs 3,645.25 crore. Its losses stood at Rs 11,449.51 crore, including Rs 5,226.95 crore subsidy not released by the Central and state governments and Rs 6,222.56 crore due to MSP payouts. He said that the Centre owed Rs 4,256 crore and added that he would take up the matter with Union Minister Piyush Goyal during his visit to New Delhi on Wednesday.