Kejriwal slams Centre for "blocking" doorstep ration delivery scheme

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday slammed Centre for "blocking" Delhi government's "ration at home" scheme which aims to deliver ration to 70 lakh card holding residents in the national capital.

Alledging that the Centre has put the scheme on hold, Kejriwal said, "Sir, you had objected that Delhi government's door step ration scheme cannot be implemented in the name of 'mukhyamantri ghar ghar ration yojana', then we decided not to give any name to this scheme. You again stopped this important scheme saying the Delhi government has not taken the Centre's approval. Sir, in the last few months, I have written 5 letters to you to seek your approval to run this scheme. Now what kind of approval the Delhi government needs from the Centre?"

However, this is not the first time Centre had shown red flag to the ration scheme.Earlier, in March this year, when Kejriwal government was prepared to provide ration to the people of Delhi at their homes, the Centre had objected saying the scheme cannot be run by the Delhi government as it is under National Food Security (NFS) Act and hence it cannot be run under any other name.

Following this, Delhi cabinet on March 20 withdrew the name 'mukhyamantri ghar ghar ration yojana' saying the AAP government will not give any name to this scheme.The scheme got re- announced on January 26 this year.