Minister for Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution (CA&PD) Department, Choudhary Zulfkar Ali, today constituted a high level committee of officers to check the quality of food-grains at the Food Corporation of India (FCI) take-off points before the same are dispatched to J&K.Taking cognizance of the complaints regarding dumping of substandard rations in some far-flung areas of the State, the Minister made it clear that there will be no compromise on the quality of rations and strict monitoring would be ensured before the lifting of food-grains from the FCI take-off points.“To ensure transportation of quality rations to various parts of the State, a team of officers would conduct the quality check of the food-grains at the FCI take-off points,” Zulfkar said and added that this mechanism would facilitate shipment of quality rations to the State.
The Minister asked FCI authorities to immediately replace the poor quality rations reportedly stocked in some areas snow-bound areas of the State including Warwan and Marwa in district Kishtwar.
Zulfkar said to ensure quality of rations being supplied to the consumers, directions have already been passed on for random lifting of samples from the CA&PD stores for testing.The Minister directed the officers to maintain proper record of requirement and status of supply of food-grains in every district.Earlier, the Minister had a meeting with legislators of Chamb, Akhnoor, R S Pura and Bishnah to take stock of functioning of the department with emphasis on supply position of essentials in their concerned constituencies.Taking serious notice of irregularities in ration supply in Chamb and Akhnoor, the Minister asked the concerned officer to look into the matter and work out a plan to ensure uniform scale of ration supply in these areas at par with urban areas.Zulfkar also asked CA&PD authorities to identify the locations requiring opening of new Fair Price Shops (FPS) in the state in consultation with the concerned legislators. He stressed upon them to complete the process in shortest possible time so that necessary action is taken at the earliest.