The foodgrains will now be allotted to fair price shops under the public distribution system from the office of the Food Commissioner. The foodgrains will be supplied to the ration shops directly by the Civil Supplies Corporation. The public distribution system will be streamlined on a large scale.
This was informed at a review meeting of the Food and Civil Supplies Corporation chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan here on Friday. The Chief Minister said that the Government's top priority is to make foodgrains available to the poor. Arrangements should be strengthened in such a way that no eligible beneficiary is deprived of the ration of wheat, rice and salt supplied at the rate of Re 1 per kg. He directed that complaints regarding non-supply of ration should be thoroughly enquired into and action should be taken against the guilty. Food Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah and Chief Secretary Anthony DeSa were also present on the occasion.
At the meeting it was informed that till now the allocation was made at district level and it had reached the fair price shop via development block. Due to this various kinds of complaints including delay in allocation used to be made. For streamlining, the entire supply system will be computerised and every information right from release of food grains to their arrival at fair price shops will be linked with information chain.
Similarly, in the first phase of PDS reforms, fake ration card holders will be identified through computers in Bhopal, Indore and also in rural areas constituting Hoshangabad, Harda, Khandwa and Burhanpur districts. Consumers will be given a choice to purchase foodgrains from fair price shops of their choice. Consumers of selected districts will be linked with Aadhar number. As an alternative arrangement, eligible families without Aadhar number will also be registered. If a consumer does not obtain foodgrains in a month, he will be free to obtain quota of that month, next month.
Appreciating efforts for reforms, the Chief Minister directed to issue letters of commendation to departmental officers. The meeting was informed that arrangements are also being made to deliver new and duplicate ration cards to consumers on the same day. It was also informed that 69 lakh MT wheat has been procured in the State so far. It was informed that validity of new licences and renewal of warehouses has been increased from one year to 5 years.
Tenders for nine districts have been sanctioned for construction of steel silos for storage of procured wheat under PPP mode. Rate of storage in silo bags has come down by about 50 per cent in Madhya Pradesh as compared to other States. Another major achievement of Madhya Pradesh is that storage capacity has increased three-fold in the State during the last three years.
At present, the State has a total of 165 lakh MT storage capacity in private and Government sectors. The Chief Minister has directed that new godowns should be constructed only as per requirement. Additional Chief Secretary Finance Ajay Nath, Principal Secretary Food and Civil Supplies Ashok Warnwal and Principal Secretary to CM Manoj Shrivastava were also present on the occasion.