HYDERABAD; Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is touring  Banswada and Kamareddy in Telangana as part of the BJP’s Parliament Pravas Yojana on Friday. 

The Finance Minstervisited public distribution system (PDS) stores in Birkur, Kamareddy district, and questioned representatives from the civil supply department and the district collector on why Prime Minister Narendra Modi's picture was missing from the stores. 

She also questioned the state and federal quotas for the provision of PDS rice, as well as Kamareddy district collector Jitesh Patil over how much PDS rice the federal government supplies. Sitharaman expressed her disappointment that the collector had not provided a suitable response and gave the staff a deadline of 30 minutes to find out the information and get back to her.

On a Friday visit to PDS locations in Telangana's Kamareddy district, the minister inquired about the expenditures the federal and state governments suffered each kilogramme of rice distributed under the PDS.
She urged the district collector provide the information on a priority basis after becoming dissatisfied with the district administration officials' evasive answers to her question.

Sitharaman questioned why Prime Minister Modi's picture was missing in these outlets, pointing out that the federal government contributes 29 of the 35 rupees  needed to purchase one kilogramme of rice through the public distribution system.

On the first day of her three-day visit to Telangana, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman encountered conflict when members of the Youth Congress attempted to obstruct her convoy near Banswada.

The Congress employees demanded that the finance minister lower the price of gasoline and diesel as a form of protest against the high cost of fuel.

As part of the governing BJP's Parliament Pravas Yojana, the union minister had set off on a three-day tour of the Zaheerabad Lok Sabha seat on Thursday.