State food and supplies minister Jyotipriya Mallick has said he has
decided to conduct surprise inspections every fortnight, especially in
the Hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong. The decision was taken in a
meeting he held at Uttarkanya recently.
Minister Mallick has also decided to hold meetings at Uttarkanya
every month to review the situation in the Hills. The state food and
supplies department has decided to store wheat meant for the Hills in
the plains.
After a thorough survey, administrative officials said they have come
to a conclusion that distributors associated with the public
distribution system deprive consumers from quality wheat and flour.
Talking to this correspondent at Uttarkanya, Mr Mallick said: “We will
not store wheat in the Hills.
A group of traders in the Hills extract important ingredients (Suji
and Moida) from flour and supply white flour only, which does not have
food value.” “We need to stop such a practice immediately and supply
fortified flour. A new system of distribution of fortified flour will
start from April this year.
After 15 days, a team of vigilance will pay surprise visits in the
Hills. If anyone is found guilty, his/her dealership will be cancelled,”
he added. Minister Mallick also pointed out that officials have
detected fake ration cards in the Hills during the thorough survey they
conducted there. “A total of 13 lakh ration cards were distributed in
the Hills. Of them, 4.5 lakh distributed during the Left regime were
identified to be fake. Officials estimated 8.75 lakh ration cards at
present,” said Mr Mallick.
“Around 12,000 digital ration cards have not yet been distributed
among consumers, who are living in interior villages. Officials face
problems in reaching out to those villagers,” the minister said.
Mr Mallick held a meeting with his department officials at Uttarkanya
on Tuesday to formulate proper methods to reach out to the people for
the distribution of the digital ration cards soon. The Darjeeling
district magistrate is especially monitoring the public distribution
system in the Hills, it is learnt.(SNS)
Post a Comment
We love to hear from you! What's on your mind?