Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs and Information Choudhary Zulfkar Ali today inaugurated ’Command and Control Centre’ at Directorate of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Channi Himmat.Commissioner Secretary Food, Civil, Supplies & Consumers Affairs Shafiq Ahmed Raina, Director Food, Civil, Supplies & Consumers R A Inqlabi, Joint Director Information, Manisha Sarin, Joint Director FCS&CA, Mansoor Aslam Choudhary, other senior officers from FCS&CA and Information departments, members of Jammu Chamber of Industries and Commerce, members of the civil society, teachers and students of Government Middle School, Channi Himmat were also present on the occasion.
The Minister also inspected the monitoring mechanism established for online contact of the Directorate FCS&CA with the food Godowns and fair price shops in Jammu division, enabling round the clock surveillance.Speaking after inauguration, the Minister said that the department is exploring suitable technology to digitize the food grain distribution system in the state adding that the first of its kind ‘command and control centre’ is the first step in this direction. He said need for digitization and scientific monitoring of food distribution has been felt to enforce accountability and transparency in the system.
“The Government, in its persistent efforts to check the pilferage and diversion of food grains, has adopted the latest ICT solutions to ensure that benefits reach to the genuine beneficiaries” he asserted adding “Command and control centre will provide 24X7 surveillance of the stored food grains and the Aadhaar linked PDS will authenticate the soul based distribution aspect of the public distribution channel.”While listing other measures in the pipeline, Zulfkar Ali informed that the department is considering installation of GPRS tracking system in all carriage vehicles used in the transportation of food grains to keep tab on the trajectory and halts. This will help to check diversion of subsidized food grains, he added. Speaking on sugar subsidy, the Minister said that the Government of India has discontinued subsidy on sugar in the annual budget 2017-18, but the J&K Government has decided to continue the subsidy in the interest of the people, especially low income group.He further informed that the state government has decided to continue supply of subsidized sugar to BPL, AAY, PHH category which constitute 74.13 lakh population of the state as per the 2011 census, against the total population of 125.42 lakh, thus covering 66 per cent of the population.The Minister stated that the government has so far procured 12 lakh metric tonnes of food grains from Food Corporation of India, Government of India and distributed the same to the people of the state especially those residing in the far flung areas.While felicitating the students from Government Middle School, Channi Himmat for their academic performance, the Minister appreciated the Directorate of FCS&CA for adopting the school to fulfill its social responsibility and provide better education facilities in the school.