Minister for Food Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs (FCS & CA), Mohammad Ashraf Mir today held a meeting with the officials of department to review its functioning and discussed ways to further improve its service.The meeting was attended by FCS & CA, Dr. Abdul Rashid, Director, FCS & CA (Kashmir), Nisar Ahmad Wani, JD Planning, Deputy Directors, Chief Accounts Officer, Kashmir, ADs from various districts and other concerned officers of the department.On the occasion, Director FCS & CA briefed the Minister about the functioning of the department. He gave a detailed presentation about various activities of the department, staff strength of the department, various issues pertaining to the functioning of the department.The Minister was informed that the department supplies food grains to 68.10 lakh people in Kashmir division including Leh and Kargil which is supplied through 4637 Sale Centers and Fair Price Shops (FPS).In the year 2017-2018, a total of 38,76,300 Quintals of rice and 2,36,206 quintals of Atta was allocated under NFSA and 9,44,779 quintals of rice was allocated under MMSFES.The allocation of Kerosene and LPG was also discussed in the meeting. The Minister was also informed that 9,636 families of the nomadic people were allocated 4,097 quintals of rice and 200 quintals of Atta in six months of 2017-2018 by the department.
Regarding the distribution of ration cards, the Minister was informed that among the 14,46,780 allocated ration cards, 14,26,913 cards stand distributed.It was informed that the enforcement wing of the department has conducted 55,469 inspections during which a fine of Rs 30,25,620 was imposed on 17,630 defaulters.Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that there is a need to bring transparency in the department as the people have many hopes in the department which has direct dealing with the people. To achieve our desired goal, we need to strengthen our enforcement team.Mir asked the officials to work with dedication and honesty and should come up with good ideas so that we facilitate people in better ways. We need to channelize public distribution system, he said. He said that public distribution is a tough job but we need to ensure that we give our best.When informed about the issues pertaining to the department, the minister asked the officials to make the list of these issues for their timely redressal. He said that the mechanism will be formed in the coming days for the betterment of the department.He also directed the officials to expedite the installation of POS machines and seeding of Aadhar.