ONORC limited to ration only, no relation with Art 371F: Chauhan

BIJOY GURUNG

GANGTOK,: State BJP president D.B. Chauhan on Wednesday maintained that Article 371F’s protection is not an entitlement of certain individuals only as others, including his party, are equally committed towards safeguarding Sikkim’s constitutional privileges.
“Whenever anything with the word ‘Nation’ comes up, certain people in Sikkim gets agitated and allergic even though we all are citizens of India. They go around making baseless statements saying that Article 371F has been attacked as seen in the issue of ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ (ONORC) which is a pro-poor policy,” said Chauhan in a press meet here.
Chauhan maintained that he and others, being Sikkimese, are also devoted for the protection of Article 371F.
“Article 371F protection is not the prerogative of some people only who are constantly talking about it whenever any national policy comes up in Sikkim like ONORC. We are also equally concerned about Article 371F as we are Sikkimese and our forefathers are buried here. If we feel that any law or policy from the Centre would affect Article 371F, we will also be among those opposing it,” said the State BJP president.
Chauhan asserted that ONORC has no relation with Article 371F or old laws of Sikkim.
“ONORC is only a policy of the Union government to ensure food security for the poor people and migrant workers. It is limited to only providing ration. ONORC allows the migrant workers and poor people to get their share of ration in the States where they are working. The same benefit can be enjoyed by Sikkim ration card holders if they are working outside the State. It even allows intra-State portability meaning a Gangtok resident can get his ration at any other place in the State where he is working or presently based,” said the State BJP president.
According to Chauhan, ONORC has been implemented in all other NE States except Assam where Aadhar-related work is still incomplete. He dismissed the claims of opposition parties that ONORC will encourage influx in Sikkim.
ONORC will rather check influx in Sikkim as the migrant workers can now only make ration cards in their home States and not in the States where they are settled or working, said the State BJP president.
Chauhan welcomed the discussions and concerns being raised by opposition parties regarding ONORC but added that the “opposition parties are giving the whole discourse a wrong direction with an intention to mislead the people.”
Gangtok MLA Y.T. Lepcha and State BJP treasurer Kailash Agarwal also attended the press meet held at the office of Journalists Union of Sikkim.