Months before polls, CM Mamata Banerjee promises rice at Rs two per kilo to seven crore residents

Kolkata: With the Assembly elections around the corner, the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal on Friday decided to start a new food security scheme to provide over three crore beneficiaries foodgrains at Rs 2 per kg, taking to seven crore the number of people getting subsidised food. “Currently our government gives rice at Rs 2 per kg to 3.33 crore people in the state. We are starting a new scheme for food security from 27 January. [caption id=“attachment_2375992” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. PTI[/caption] “Three crore additional people will be included in this system and will get wheat and rice at Rs 2 per kg,” Banerjee said at the state secretariat Nabanna after a Cabinet meeting. She also said an additional 70 lakh people have filled up forms to get subsidised food and will be getting cereals at half the market price. Altogether around seven crore people will be entitled to benefits of the state government’s food security schemes, she said. The cabinet also adopted a rehabilitation package for tea garden workers in northern West Bengal as well as for people living in Jangalmahal — the Left Wing Extremism affected areas of the state. The state Assembly polls are slated to take place in the first half of 2016. IANS