Kamareddy: “You are the District Collector, but you don’t know this?”, said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to the Kamareddy District Collector on Friday in Birkur in Banswada Assembly constituency.

She expressed her unhappiness with Kamareddy District Collector Jitesh V Patil for not giving proper answers regarding the distribution of PDS rice which is being provided free by the Centre under the Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. She toured Banswada Assembly constituency as a part of the Parliament Pravas Yojana and inspected a PDS ration shop at Birkur.

She asked the Collector about the share in the expenditure borne by the State and the Centre in buying rice for distribution. When Patil expressed his ignorance, Nirmala Sitharaman shot back, saying, “You are the District Collector, but you don’t know this? Get all the facts ready, I will come back to you in half an hour.”

She was upset with the answers of the District Collector, who failed to give proper reply to FM when she asked why a photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not there on the ration shop premises. She directed the Collector to make sure that a photo of the PM was hung on the shop wall and a message in this regard be sent to her.

If you fail to do so, BJP activists will do that and officials would be obliged to provide protection to the photo. If the photo is displaced, I will take action against you.  She also told the Collector that the Central Government is providing Rs 29 per Kg of PDS rice as subsidy. The PDS rice Kg cost is Rs 35, she said. She interacted with beneficiaries at Birkur PDS ration shop.