Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 27: Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali today said that to bring transparency in ration distribution in the State, public partaking will be introduced and to achieve this goal Vigilance and Monitoring Committees will be constituted in all the districts.
The Minister said this while chairing a joint meeting of the officers of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department and representatives of oil companies here today.
The meeting was also attended by the Deputy Commissioners of Kathua, Samba, Rajouri, Poonch, Reasi, Ramban, Kishtwar, Doda and Udhampur through video conferencing.
During the meeting, threadbare discussions were held district wise on issues including Aadhar seeding with ration cards, implementation of Consumer Protection Act and functioning of Consumer Protection Councils, implementation of National Food Security Act (NFSA), Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna (PMUY), stock and supply position, distribution of food grains, Vigilance Monitoring Committees, distribution of ration cards and installation of GPS in trucks carrying food grains.
The Minister directed all DCs to expedite the process of seeding Aadhar with the ration cards. He asked them to convene regular monthly meetings of Consumer Protection Councils in their respective districts.
Zulfkar discussed the implementation of NFSA with all the DCs and directed for freezing the number of beneficiaries as per the target given to them. While discussing the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna (PMUY), the Minister directed the DCs to actively involve the district administration to ensure identification of real beneficiaries. He also asked the representatives of oil companies to maintain close coordination to achieve the goal of providing free LPG connection to women of BPL families.
While discussing the supply position of petroleum products to Kashmir, the Minister directed the representatives of oil companies to maintain regular supply of petrol and diesel to Kashmir valley. Responding to the issue of providing security to the oil tankers, the Minister assured that the Government would take appropriate steps in this regard.
Meanwhile, Zulfkar Ali reviewed the stock and supply position of ration in Kishtwar district in a separate meeting of district functionaries of the department.
Minister of State for Transport, Sunil Kumar Sharma was also present in the meeting wherein issues pertaining to stocking of ration for cut-off areas of the hilly district were discussed threadbare.
Responding to issues raised by Transport Minister, who represents Kishtwar district, Zulfkar stressed on stocking of ration in these area well before the onset of winters. He also stressed on strengthening monitoring mechanism in area to ensure that the ration reaches to targeted population.
The Minister also discussed various other issues including stock supply position, distribution of food grains and other important issue related to consumers of district.
It was informed that from October onwards, allocation of ration will be made on quarterly basis to the district. The concerned officer was directed to put in place necessary arrangements to stock ration for three months.
The Minister said that the stores in hilly areas which need to be renovated to dump stock will be taken up in convergence mode with Rural Development Department.
In order to have effective distribution and monitoring of ration, the Minister asked the Director FCS&CA Jammu to depute senior officer who will be stationed in Doda and Kishtwar districts on weekly basis.
On the occasion, the Ministers also released the scheme document of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Food Entitlement Scheme (MMSFES).
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