Hyderabad: According to statistics available with the civil supplies department, 2.75 Cr people out of 3.5 Cr remain below the poverty line.
The government spends Rs 6,380 Cr a year to supply these families rice at Rs 1 a kg. The Centre’s subsidy is Rs 3,715 Cr and the state pays Rs 2,655 Cr.
Civil supplies minister Etala Rajendar contradicted with these figures in the Assembly, and proved that there was large scale diversion of subsidised rice to the open market.
“The government was conducting inspections of BPL families to weed out bogus beneficiaries,” Etala said.