BHUBANESWAR, May 27: The Targeted Public Distribution System which was planned to reduce the load of subsidies on the Government and which is set to replace the old PDS on June 1 has left Orissa with a problem on its hands. The drought-affected State will have to bear the burden of 11 lakh families newly deprived of PDS benefits as well as deal with a cut-down on allocations by the Centre.

The list of TPDS beneficiaries was prepared on the basis of the Lakdawala Committee's computation of the poverty line. The committee put the number of families below the poverty line in the State at 32 lakh. However, a door-to-door survey conducted by the DRDAs in 1991-93 identified 43 lakh such families.

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