The State Government has decided to fix responsibility upon respective district administration officials (DCs, SDOs and other officials) for any negligence in distribution of food grains to PDS card holders. At the same time the Government has directed officials to follow protocol to be followed in case of reports of hunger death arising from any parts of State.
Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs department in the wake of alleged hunger death of a 65-year-old man, Ram Charan Munda of Lurgumi Kalan in Latehar district has once again asked respective district administration officials follow guidelines set up by department in distributing food grains to PDS beneficiaries at the same time follow protocol if investigation if there is reports of hunger death. The department has asked distribution of food grains through offline mode too and not sticking to online mode of distribution of grains. However, Minister Saryu Roy has claimed that the death of Munda was not due to starvation.
Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs Department minister, Saryu Roy said, “The Government on Monday issued show-cause notices to the Latehar deputy commissioner and district supply officer –cum-Mahuadanr sub divisional magistrate over the alleged starvation death last week in village as the residents weren’t supplied PDS ration for two months due to internet glitches.” Roy claimed that same instruction has been issued to other district administration officials too.
Roy said that as per the protocol set up by department for probing suspected case of starvation, a team of sub-divisional magistrate, block development officer and civil surgeon has to carry out the probe in alleged starvation death. However, in Latehar’s case, the SDM himself carried out the investigation.
Also, the team has to conduct the post mortem of the victim if the family member alleged that the death is due to starvation. The minister claimed that if necessary the district administration officials has to even exhume the body for post mortem if the family members alleged that death is due to starvation.
Echoing the views of Minister, department Secretary Amitabh Kaushal said, “The department has prepared the guidelines under which PDS grains has to be distributed. If the respective officials don’t follow the guidelines they will be fixed responsible.” The secretary claimed that the guidelines also include the emergency funds for distribution of food grains.
Also, the Government in 2017 made it clear that Aadhaar card is not mandatory to collect food grains from the public distribution system after an 11-year-old girl allegedly died of starvation in State. Similarly, last year the Government had stated that under no circumstances should PDS beneficiaries be deprived of food grains because of network or Aadhaar issues. These are all part of guidelines set up by the department which district administration officials has to follow in food grains distribution under PDS.
However, the Secretary claimed that Jharkhand has remained successful with errors accounting to only 0.1 per cent in the PDS system. As per Kaushal’s claim, around 2.5 crore people in 58 lakh familes are covered under PDS system in Jharkhand. Kaushal said, “The success rate of PDS in Jharkhand is more than 99 per cent, less than 0.1 per cent people due to some technical reasons or administrative lapses are not getting food grains. We have asked the district administration officials to plug the loopholes in PDS distribution.”
As per department guidelines, food grains are distributed under five categories which includes—BPL scheme, Antayoda scheme, Village Grain bank, subsidized PDS Kerosene oil and public distribution system.