Demanding Dehradun residents to be issued ration cards under the State Food Security scheme without delay, scores of Bharatiya Janata Party activists staged a demonstration at the district food and civil supply office on Friday. The agitators accused the food and civil supply officers of failing to issue ration cards to the needy on time.
The refrain that runs among the agitators is that the unprivileged people who survive the tough days of escalating prices of edible and other essential items by the subsidised food they receive over public distribution system are finding it difficult to collect ration cards due to the laid-back attitude of the department officers.
They said they would intensify their stir across the district if the department continues sleeping over the matter.
BJP activists led by the councilor Bhupendra Singh Kathait assembled at DSO office and shouted slogans against the district administration, slamming them for their failure to address the people’s concerns. The protesters alleged that the due to department officers’ lethargic approach and inadequate information being provided, the residents are being forced to make several rounds of the office to procure ration cards.
Singh said that the things are grim. “large number of persons working in unorganised (private) sector in the State, it is difficult for them to collect income certificates as being demanded by the officers. The matter being one of bare survival, the State government must find out ways to help them get ration cards. We further demand the State government to give the retired persons and those who live separate from their children separate ration cards. The income of their children should not be added to the income of elderly persons,” he said.
Sabita Oberai, one of the agitators, said that the State government has been misleading the ration card holders and shopkeepers in the name of new ration cards under SFSS. “Shop dealers are implementing it on first come first serve basis and rations remain out of bounds for a large number of cardholders who are entitled to avail the PDS system. Besides, the dealers are not being provided with adequate amount of rations from the godowns, resulting in shortage of the items meant for distribution. Things should be probed to see whether any malpractice is depriving the needy of what the government is committed to provide them with. We would not rest till things are brought back on the rails and the needy get the rations,” she said.