The PDS system in the district is in complete disarray as wheat meant for APl family is diverted by the transporters to local flour mills to fetch huge profit margin. PDS wheat is sold at Rs7 per kg while the millers pay Rs13 per kg. As such, the unscrupulous PDS dealer and PDS transporters directly sell the wheat to the millers.
According to the Civil Supply officials, 432 PDS dealers operate in three municipalities and five blocks of the district covering 77,695 APl ration cards. The wheat is transported by nine transporters from RRC. The Govt has allotted around 7,840 quintals of wheat per month to Jharsuguda district. Reliable sources said that most of the PDS dealers sell the wheat to PDS transporters at a margin of Rs4 per kg and the transporters sell the wheat to the Jharsuguda based mill owners illegally at a rate Rs14 per kg.
The connivance surfaced, when Jharsuguda police seized 1,000 quintals PDS wheat from a local flour mill godown some months back and arrested its owner. RTI activist Sanjay Panda said that at a time when poor people have to stand in a long queue to fetch wheat in front of PDS shops, a section of black marketers make huge profits by diverting the wheat in open market. When contacted, the District Civil Supplies Officer said there is a special squad to check the irregularities and black-marketing of PDS commodities.