To assess the ground situation of Food, Civil Supply and Consumer Affairs Department, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat convened a review meeting on Wednesday during which he categorically asked the officers to transfer the subsidy, being spent on the purchase of food grains under PDS, among the beneficiaries. He asked them to transfer the money meant for sugar being distributed under Antyodaya Ann Yojna directly into the account of the beneficiaries. Principal secretary has been instructed to bring a note in the cabinet meeting on the matter. At present, 10.47 lakh ration card holders are registered under state food yojna (SFY) and 45 lakh people are entitled to its benefit.
CM asked the officers to explain the plans they have firmed to cross- check the supply of subsidized ration on the ground. He asked about the number of the PDS shops being made dysfunctional following irregularities and also about the number of the officials being booked for non-performance. He asked them to account for the subsidized ration not reaching the PDS outlets. CM stressed on the department improving its style of functioning to address the interests of the beneficiaries. He said that the corrupt and the irresponsible officers must be punished and the system must be made transparent.
Principal secretary Anand Vardhan said during the meeting that under National Food Security Act (NFSA), 13,30,400 cards have been digitized by August 1, 2017 and 92.13 percent of the cards has been attached with Aadhar. Under SFY, 10,47,300 cards have been digitized and 96.24 card has been linked with Aadhar numbers, he added. He further said that aside from making things online at the district levels they are working on supply chain software on a trial basis to be implemented by October 2017. In each district, two PDS shops have been connected with point of sale (PoS) under the pilot project and for the remaining 9251, they are procuring PoS devises. He also said that they have established state food commission to speed things up of which chief development officer (CDO) of each district has been nominated as the distinct grievance redressal officer. For this, the toll free no 18001802000 has been introduced. To make the system more efficient, things are being linked with samadhan portal. He also spoke of the supply of kerosene, saying that it is being distributed through PDS system with the condition that the beneficiaries would not have lPG connection. Currently, the state is getting 2111 kilo litre kerosene from union government under PDS system. At present lPG is being distributed through 220 gas agencies including IOC, BP and HPC, he added.