Andhra Pradesh - Tirupati   

Meet to discuss bogus ration cards

By Our Special Correspondent

The Commissioner of Civil Supplies, Banwarlal addressing Joint Collectors and marketing and legal metrology officials during a regional conference at Tirupati on Monday.

TIRUPATI, SEPT. 13. The Civil Supplies Commissioner, Banwarlal, said here today that a State-level meeting was on the cards to discuss how to weed out bogus cards and ensure effective distribution of essential commodities to all eligible families.

He regretted that despite Rs. 700 crores being spent by the Government annually on the subsidised rice scheme alone, it was not reaching the genuinely poor who deserved the benefit. He also pointed out that 35 lakh fresh cards were distributed in the State just before the elections but still the genuinely poor were missing their quota.

He was addressing a regional conference of the department at Tirupati in which Joint Collectors, and marketing and legal metrology officials from the four Rayalaseema districts and Nellore participated besides the concerned district presidents and secretaries of the Ration Shop Dealers Association. The meet was organised to review the working of the department and to hammer out an action plan to tighten the distribution system.

Dealers' views sought

The Commissioner was unhappy that while deserving families were going without ration cards, there were cases where a single family was in possession of two or three cards. It was in this connection he asked the dealers to take up an intensive survey especially in the urban areas and weed out all the bogus cards.

Mr. Banwarlal said the proposed State-level meet would focus on the aspect which posed a serious problem to the Government and the beneficiaries as well. He also took note of a suggestion that dealers could be paid a fixed monthly salary to effectively curb bogus cards.

`Ensure quality'

He asked the dealers not to lift the stocks if their quality was not good and reminded the Joint Collectors and the civil supplies officials that it was their duty to ensure quality. Explaining the dealer-friendly measures put in place by the department, he said they needed to go to the godowns to lift their stocks as they would be delivered at their shops once they paid the DDs. He, however, warned that if the dealers did not submit the DDs and lift the stocks before the end of the month, their licences would be cancelled.

Focus on villages

He wanted the legal metreology officials to turn their attention to rural areas also as the scope for fraud was higher there. "You should focus on mineral water bottles also," he told the department obviously referring to the complaints of sub-standard stuff moving freely in the market.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

• Meet to discuss bogus ration cards
• Brahmotsavams: RTC to ply a bus a minute

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu