Minister for Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs and Information, Choudhary Zulfkar Ali today inspected Fair Price Shops (FPSs) across Jammu city and assessed the quality of food grains provided to the consumers.The Minister, along with a high level team of officers of the department, inspected ration depots in Ustad Mohalla, Bakshi Nagar, Bhagwati Nagar, Talab Tillo, New Plots and parts of old city.While checking the stock and supply in each shop, the Minister asked the ration dealers to lift and distribute the food grains in time to avoid inconvenience to the rationees. He said that instructions have been issued to the department to ensure advance allocation and lifting of the food grains is done, adding any laxity in this regard would not be tolerated.He said that Government is working on a plan to open new 4388 FPSs in the state, out of which 547 will be opened in Jammu district alone. “The new FPSs will be opened within a distance of 2 kilometers with maximum number of 250 households. This will help in hassle free and timely distribution of ration, “he said.
Informing that the Government is spending Rs 735 crore annually on providing food grains to the people of the state, the Minister said the major beneficiaries are poor and under privileged section of the society.He said department is on job to distribute new ration cards and complete Aadhaar seeding of rationees, which will help to remove duplicity and enforce transparency. He said from today the department has started camps across the state for Aadhaar seeding which would continue till July 27. The Minister directed to constitute a dedicated squad comprising officers from Legal Metrology and FCS&CA department which will ensure that no unfair trade practices are carried out in FPSs.Meanwhile, the Minister suspended the Inspector of Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs department posted in Bakshi Nagar area for his failure to look into the complaints of consumers about depot dealers charging Rs 10 from consumers on the name of carriage expenses. The Minister took strong note of the complaint of the consumers and informed them that the carriage charges are borne by the department and they do not have to pay extra Rs 10 to the dealer.The Minister ordered immediate suspension of the concerned inspector and asked the Director FCS&CA to initiate inquiry against the official.Director FCS&CA, R.A Inqlabi, Deputy Controller Legal Metrology, Manoj Prabhakar, AD Trade & Store besides other concerned officers accompanied the Minister.