BJD MPs Delegation Meets Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Demands Release of Pending Subsidy for Paddy Procurement

New Delhi: A delegation of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MPs today met Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal to press their demand for release of pending subsidy for paddy procurement.

The delegation of BJD Members of Parliament from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha met the Union Minister and apprised him about the pending subsidy claims of Rs. 5,616 crore payable to Odisha by the Centre.

Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation (OSCSC), the agency which performs paddy procurement has so far borrowed a staggering sum of Rs. 19,000 crore to run the paddy procurement programme by way of upfront investment. This high volume of bank loan is mainly due to non release of subsidy by Department of Food and Public Distribution, Gol.

The OSCSC has pending subsidy claims towards provisional and advance subsidy totalling Rs. 5,616 crore. All resources including sanctioned limit of bank finances has been exhausted by OSCSC. Non release of subsidy in time leads to a huge interest burden on the OSCSC, the delegation informed the Union Minister.

As on date, Odisha has already suffered a cumulative loss of about Rs. 1721.16 crore due to delay in release of subsidy. The Centre has refused to bear this burden.

The BJD MP delegation further apprised the Union Minister about the issue in rice delivery.