The State Government has allotted nearly 14,924 kilolitres of kerosene for ration cardholders and hawkers, under Public Distribution System (PDS), for the month of December.
This includes allotment of 13,967 kilolitres for ration shops and that of 957 kilolitre kerosene for hawkers.Food, Civil Supply and Consumer Protection Department has issued allotment orders to District Collectors and State-level Coordinators of Oil Industries, stating that the stock should be lifted before December 25 and should be distributed to ration cardholders as per their eligibility.
It is stated in the circular that based on the third trimester allotment issued by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India, New Delhi, district-wise stock of kerosene has been issued for ration cardholders and hawkers of Chhattigarh Food and Nutrition Security Act.
As per the circular, ration cardholders of urban areas are eligible to receive 2 litres of kerosene each whereas those of scheduled rural areas will be eligible for maximum of 4 litre kerosene and those of non-scheduled areas will get maximum 3 litre of kerosene.
Based on the list of hawkers uploaded on departmental website by Food Inspector and Food Controller, separate stock for hawkers at the rate of 600 litre per hawker has been issued. About 90 per cent of the citizens domiciled in Chhattisgarh are now being provided with food and nutrition security, claim officials.
They also claimed that Chhattisgarh is the first State to give ‘Right-to-Food’ to its people and make it into a law. Apart from this ,Chhattisgarh is a ‘Model State’ in Public Distribution System (PDS), which is transparent and ration are provided on schedule, officials stated. This apart, landless labour families ,small farmers upto five acres of land, unorganised labour like-barbers, shoe-makers, carpenters, washermen, rickshaw-pullers families, building construction labour-coolies and other menial workers, are included in the priority list under the Act.
The Chhattisgarh Public Distribution System under Antyodaya and Priority families schemes provides 35 kg food grains at Re 1 per kg. Since June 2014 single member category ration card-holders under destitute segment are provided 10 kg food grains free of cost.
The State government keeping in view nutrition security is providing -grams, pulses, sugar and Iodised salt. Antyodaya and Priority families get two kg salt free of cost, two kg grams at Rs 5 per kilo in Notified areas. In non-Notified areas two kg pulses at the rate of Rs 10 and one kg sugar at Rs 13 are distributed. Under the Food and Nutrition Security Act, hostels, ashrams, anganwadis, are provided with subsidized food grains. About Rs 3844.32 crore is allocated in fiscal 2014-15 for the scheme.
The State is spending Rs 4,640 crore per year on the PDS scheme. ‘Meri Marji’ scheme was started in March 2012 in which consumers can buy rations from the shops of their choice under the Core PDS system. It is in operation in eight cities-Raipur, Durg, Rajnandgaon, Mahasamund,Raigarh, Ambikapur, Korba and Chirimiri-in 565 fair price shops .
About Rs 1.75 crore is allocated in current fiscal 2014-15 to implement Core PDS in 290 fair price shops. The ration shop owners are answerable to the consumers under the scheme. Chhattisgarh Core Public distribution System not only won many national awards but also was hailed at the national-level.
Under the Gram Distribution Scheme for BPl families, State Government has allotted 51,453 quintals of grams for 21 districts of state this month.Food, Civil Supply and Consumer Protection Department has allotted this stock under Public Distribution System. Under this scheme, Antyoday and Priority ration cardholder families are provided 2 kg of grams every month at Rs 10 per kg.
Moreover, the seeding of a beneficiary in Chhattisgarh will be done for Public Distribution System (PDS) and National Health Insurance Scheme at the time of registration for Aadhaar card.With preparation of Aadhaar card, the details of the Smart Card and Ration Card would be linked with the Aadhaar number of the beneficiary, officials said.Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand has issued directives to the officers in this regard during a meeting held here to review the work of Aadhaar card and linking of other schemes with it.