There had been a rapid expansion in opening of ration shops under the Public Distribution System (PDS) in the State during the past 11 years.
There were 8,458 ration shops in 2004-05. At present, there are 12,317 ration shops in Chhattisgarh.
The Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Department officials said that ration shops are being opened in the newly constituted Panchayat headquarters on a priority basis.
The ration shops are also computerised. About 1153 ration shops are opened in the new Gram Panchayats. More than 4,000 ration shops have been computerised in the entire State.
As per the officials estimate there are -Rajnandgaon district (868) ration shops, Raigarh district (838), Bilaspur (837),Janjgir-Champa district (675) , Balodabazar-Batapara district (638), Durg district (598), Raipur district (591), Mahasamund district (577), Kabirdham district (469), Korba district (454), North Bastar (Kanker) , Balod and Surguja districts (442-442) shops, Jashpur district (440), Surajpur district (436) , Balrampur-Ramanujganj district (420), Bemetara district (408) , Bastar district (405) shops, Dhamtari district (391), Mungeli district (364), Koriya district (345), Gariyaband district (339), Kondagaon district (321), Bijapur district (183), South Bastar (Dantewada) district (143), Sukma district (150) and Narayanpur district 101 ration shops are operating.