The district administration has established District Grievance Redressal Office (DGRO) under National Food Security Act (NFSA) to seek public complaints about inclusion, exclusion, modification in database and actual supply of ration.Meanwhile, the Deputy Commissioner handed over the completed database to Directorate of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Department after completion of final round of fidelity exercise which will be followed by adjudication of complaints and grievances by DGRO.Deputy Commissioner, Udhampur, Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, will act as District Grievance Redressal Officer (DGRO) assisted by Sub-Divisional Magistrates, Tehsildars, Asstt Director CAPD, TSOs and other members of the committee. The DGRO Establishment will receive complaints between 10am to 5pm on all working days and weekly disposal will be uploaded on website every Monday. The complaints will also be received via mail, telephone, SMS etc apart from written complaints.
On the occasion, a workshop for media persons was organised at District headquarter to discuss various aspects of National Food Security Act and its transparent implementation. The participants were briefed about the status of NFSA in district and mechanism of Grievance Redressal established for entertaining and deciding complaints. Meanwhile, as per the NFSA norms, the 4th round of fidelity was completed and purification of data completed and handed over to CAPD department. Against 2011 Census population of 5.55 Lakh, the district administration has found 1.23 Lakh families comprising 5.56 Lakh souls. Against the fixed Priority Household (PHH) Target of 3.34 Lakh, as many as 3.36 Lakh souls have been included while under NPHH the district figure is 1.86 Lakh. Besides, remaining families are under exclusion category. The district will be receiving 28000 quintals of ration every month.
Pertinently, 3.34 Lakh persons will receive ration at Rs 2/KG and Rs 3/KG for rice and wheat under NFSA compared to only 1.27 Lakh population under existing TPDS. As many as, 6062 families comprising 27000 persons will receive 35 KG ration per month for each family.Earlier, 24 KG ration was available in district for each family again required 35 KG per family.The DC informed that children aged 6 months to 14 years of age are provided ration under NFSA as per ICDS and SSA norms and at the moment 1-5 years children have not been uploaded on National Database as per instructions of Administrative Department since additional allocation will be provided for this group over and above NFSA as per norms of ICDS and SSA. He elaborated that Government has already taken up issue of enhancement of ration quota with Centre.ACR Rajiv Magotra, DIO Ashwani Hansa, DIO NIC Anil Sharma, Tehsildar HQA Shabir Ahmed Malik, Tehsildar Udhampur Sapna Kotwal and other officers were present during NFSA briefing with media.