Bhubaneswar, Jul 30 (PTI) The Odisha government today said it aims to cover at least 25 lakh people under its Food Security Scheme and provide rice to beneficiaries from October 2.

A proposal in this regard was approved at the Cabinet meeting held here chaired by chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

The beneficiaries will be the people who have been denied coverage under National Food Security Act, said Chief Secretary A P Padhi.

The state government formulated its own food security scheme as the Centre has not considered Odisha's request to increase the National Food Security Act's (NFSA) beneficiaries' upper celling.

The issue was taken up with the Centre a number of times to increase the target by 34.44 lakh under the NFSA.

Oatnaik had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the matter. Therefore, the state government was forced to implement its own food security scsheme, an official release said.

"Odisha government has decided to utilise its own resources to cover all poor, distressed and eligible beneficiaries who have been left out of the NFSA to be covered under state food security scheme," Padhi said.

"The state will spend Rs 220 crore from its own resources towards food security scheme for the six months, from October 2018 to March 2019," Padhi added.

Asked on how to meet the food required to feed additional 25 lakh people, Padhi said: "The requirement of requisite quantity of rice per year will be met out of the state pool."

He said there will be automatic inclusion and exclusion of beneficiaries under the state food security scheme.

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