Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has provided a clarification regarding the state’s Punjab food security list, assuring the public on Monday that no family would be deleted from the list of beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). This statement, however, comes just a week after his government issued a notification with new criteria for excluding beneficiaries, a move that has drawn sharp criticism from the Opposition.
The controversy began last month when the Centre flagged 11 lakh “suspicious” beneficiaries and asked the Punjab government to verify them. At the time, CM Mann had promised he would not allow any beneficiary to be deleted. In his latest statement, while reaffirming that “no ration card in the state would be deleted,” Mann clarified that “only individual beneficiaries would be deleted” if they did not meet the criteria. He pointed out the “absurdity of penalizing entire families when just one member may be fulfilling one of the criteria.”
The state government has sought six months from the Centre to complete the verification process, citing the recent floods. Opposition leaders, however, are not buying the government’s explanation. Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, president of the Punjab Congress, accused the AAP government of succumbing to pressure from the BJP-led Union Government. Using a strong political jab, he said, “Modi proposes, Mann disposes,” and expressed his disappointment with the state government. Similarly, Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa hit out at the government, stating that they have not only “gone back on their word but have adopted the Centre’s anti-poor criteria.”
