Sadar SDO Nancy Sahay has cracked whip on the PDS dealers on two counts. The first is a large number of PDS dealers have no toilets in their houses. The dealers and their women folks still go behind the shrubs morning and evening but never shy of displaying smart phones, bikes and pucca houses.
Nancy Sahay told The Pioneer on Saturday, “14 blocks of Palamu are under me. There are more than 1,200 PDS dealers in these blocks. Only 20% of these dealers have toilets in their houses. The rest prefer going down to maidaan.”
Nancy Sahay said, “I endorse that PDS dealers flaunt smart phones, use internets, ride bikes and four vehicles, live in two storied building but have no concern and care for building toilets in their houses.”
She said, “I have set a deadline. Build a toilet or face a discontinuation of PDS shop licence.” Asked as to how she would go about this, Nancy said when the dealers come for renewal of licence, they have to file in writing that they have started building toilets in their houses and those who refuse to give this undertaking would not get their licence renewed.
She said since PDS dealers, aganwadi sewikas and para teachers all get honorarium from the Government and they are not entitled for Government’s Rs12,000 for building shouchalayas. They have to build shouchalayas with their own money, she added.
This IAS officer’s second whip is streamlining of the deliverance of the PDS shops. She agreed that ration card holders stock in trade complaint is that the dealers give them four and a half Kg of raw food instead of 5 Kg per unit. She explained that a ration card having 6 units is entitled to get 30 Kg of rice but instead of this the ration card holder gets 27 Kgs.
She agreed that rice is to be given @ of 1 rupee per kg but the common complaint is that the dealers charge 1.50 rupee per Kg of rice.
She said this would be looked into. When reminded that many genuine ration card holders are now out of the reach of the deliverance from PDS shops Nancy said ‘This is well in our cognizance. Some technical glitch has created this situation in Ranchi. The PDS dealers are not responsible for this. The portal is locked. It is to be opened this January itself. Once it is opened things will be sorted out’.
Further reminded that dealers face difficulty in handling E pos machine to which she said this is again due to some glitch in the soft ware prepared where problems are erupting in thumb impression and automatic reduction in units in the ration cards etc.