Our govt is providing food security to almost 90% of state: Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said that her government was giving food security to 90 per cent people of the state as she remembered the martyrs of the 1959 'Khadya Andolan.'

Under the 'Khadya Sathi' scheme food grains at Rs. 2 per kg or half the market price are given to the beneficiaries.

"Remembering the martyrs of 1959 Khadya Andolan (food movement). In Bangla, we provide food security to 90% (8.59 crore) of the state's people through the Khadya Sathi scheme under which food grains at Rs. 2 per kilogramme or half the market rate are provided to the beneficiaries," Ms Banerjee wrote on her Twitter handle.

Banerjee said that special assistance was also being given to the people of once 'Maoist'-hit Jangalmahal, hill areas, cyclone 'Aila' affected regions, and Singur in Hooghly district.

West Bengal witnessed a mass movement in late 1958 by the then undivided Communist Party of India (CPI) and other left groups, protesting against the food crisis. The movement for food, the Khadya Andolon, reached its peak in August 1959. On this day the same year, several demonstrators, including farmers and women, were killed in police firing during a protest rally on the issue.

Banerjee who came to power in the state in 2011, also said her government also provides special assistance to the people of Maoist-infested Jangalmahal comprising of Bengal’s western districts, north Bengal hills and coastal regions of state that is often hit by cyclone.