Dont cap food scheme, says Naveen

BHUBANESWAR: A day after the Union Cabinet approved the National Food Security Bill, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday said each and every poor should be covered under cheap foodgrain schemes without any cap. Stating that Odisha has been implementing Rs 2-a-kg-rice scheme for the poor for the last three years, Naveen said he had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sometime back giving some suggestions in this regard. “I had written to the Prime Minister that the Centre should not put a cap on the number of poor people entitled to be benefited by the scheme,” the Chief Minister told mediapersons while reacting to the Bill. “I had also mentioned that there should be a limit to the burden on the State governments under the scheme,” he said.