Left parties staged a joint dharna in front of the Bhagalpur District headquarters against the cancellation of poor people’s ration cards and the rampant loot and corruption in the distribution of ration and kerosene. CPI (ML), CPI, and SUCI (C) activists participated in the dharna presided over by Comrades Mukesh Mukt , Ganesh Singh and Deepak Kumar Mandal.
Addressing the dharna, Left leaders said that the governments in Delhi and Patna are demolishing the public distribution system and hitting the poor hard. The PDS is already rife with rampant loot and corruption. The poor never get their ration or kerosene on time; sometimes they are deprived of the ration rice for months, and when they do get it they are made to pay high prices. Dealers extort crores of rupees from the poor every month. Now there is a government conspiracy to cancel the ration cards of the poor. Unnecessary notices are being served on the poor to trouble them. Instead of strengthening the PDS and making rations available at affordable prices, the government seems determined to snatch away the right to food from the poor.
A joint delegation of Left parties met the district official designated by the DM and submitted a 6-point charter of demands.
