Despite the Uttarakhand Food and Civil Supply Minister claiming that all the APl ration card holders are being given 10 kg wheat, five kg rice and 500 gram sugar each month, the Public Distribution System dealers are not receiving adequate quantities of these items from the RFC Godown for many months.
In Dehradun district, the district food and civil supply officer Shyam Arya has directed all the PDS dealers to supply these items to ration card holders on first come, first served basis.
One of the shopkeepers alleged that in Rishikesh and Vikasnagar areas, each ration card holder is receiving 15 kg wheat in stead of 10 kg as per government guidelines which is known to the DSO while in Dehradun, some receive 10 kg and some get nothing due to first come, first served basis. According to him, the quality of food items received under PDS is below standards.
Azadnagar resident Shakib said that to procure ration, he has to visit the PDS shop several times each month as Government has not fixed date for supplying ration to the card holders.
On condition of anonymity, a shopkeeper said that DSO has told him to supply five kg rice to the each card holder even though he received four kg rice from godown.
Apart from this, as per Government guidelines, if card holders have not procured gas connection from the agencies and are residing in the city area, they will receive five litres kerosene oil under PDS while those living in the rural area will receive seven litres kerosene.
But PDS dealers receive around one and half litres kerosene per card holder under PDS and DSO has told the dealers to provide two litres kerosene to the card holders. Arya also directed that first come, first served basis be applied in supplying these items to the customers, he added Uttaranchal Fair Price Dealers Association (UFPDA) president Jitendra Gupta alleged that dealers do not receive food items
and kerosene oil as per Government guidelines under PDS. Apart from this, they do not receive ration on particular date each month and they receive ration 40-50 days after procuring the last ration quota under PDS. People visit PDS shops daily from first day of the month and demand their rations.
Due to this, it becomes very difficult for the dealers to supply ration as per guidelines to the card holders. Due to lack of information about supply of food grains from the RFC godown, sometimes they have to face arguments with the card holders, he added. In absence of electronic balance at RFC godown, PDS dealers receive three to four kg less than the stipulated quantity in each of food grains in each sack.
“If we receive adequate quantity from RFC godown in first week of each month, we will be able to provide the ration to the card holders on time according to Government guidelines,” he added.
In this regard, the association has protested outside DSO office several times, but no action has been taken by the officer so far. The association will be compelled to protests across the state in coming days if their demands are not met soon.
DSO Arya said that food grains are supplied to dealers each month but sometimes they may receive these items late. There are 2.31 lakh APl card holders in Dehradun city and 22, 986 quintal wheat, 11, 497 quintal rice and 910 metric tonnes sugar were supplied to the dealers in the month of July.
The district food and civil supply minister Pritam Singh recently said that there is no shortage of food grains in the state and card holders are given their ration as per Government guidelines.