Bhopal:Friday, September 12, 2008:Marked improvement has been witnessed in the implementation of Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) in the state. In January 2008, one lakh 59 thousand tonnes of food grains were distributed as against 87 thousand 810 tonnes during the same period last year. Offtake in the state has also gone up by 14.64 percent in comparison to last year.
The improvement can be attributed to the offtake under Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and the Above Poverty Line (APL) schemes, as the disbursal under both the schemes had been nil in January 2007. Bulk offtake was registered under Below Poverty Line scheme which accounted for offtake to the tune of 96,680 tonnes of food grains. This offtake was 28.87 more than the scheme’s allocation. The AAY and APL schemes disbursed 53,880 tonnes and 9,070 tonnes respectively. The latter was also in excess of its allotment.
However, the cumulative offtake under the TPDS during April-January 2007-08, at 8.65 tonnes, remained lower than that recorded in the preceding fiscal. In fact, Madhya Pradesh got less allocation this year in comparison to the concerning period of 2006-07. while the performance of the AAY was far more impressive during April-January 2007-08, the offtake under BPL declined considerably.
The TPDS distributed 1.18 lakh tonnes of what during January 2008, which was the highest in the period under consideration. The offtake was also 17.5 percent higher than the quantity of what allocated to the system. Unlike last year, both AAY and APL schemes performed well during the above month.
Distribution of rice has also improved considerably. The system distributed 42 thousand 620 tonnes of rice, the bulk of which was accounted for by the BPL scheme.
