JAMMU, JANUARY 5: Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali, Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD), called on Governor N. N. Vohra at the Raj Bhavan.
The Minister briefed the Governor about the ongoing schemes and steps initiated by his Department for ensuring timely, adequate and equal distribution of rations, particularly in the far off areas of the State. The Minister informed that CAPD is providing rations from 1st September 2015 to 6.70 lac additional families, on the basis of 2011 Census.
Regarding the implementation of National Food Security Act in State, the Minister informed that this Statute, to be enforced in the State w.e.f 1st February, 2016, shall enable the CAPD to provide rations to 119.00 lacs souls of whom 74.13 lacs belong to the marginalized, deprived and downtrodden sections of the society at highly subsidized rates of Rs. 3/- & Rs. 2/- for rice and atta, respectively. Further, 45.00 lac souls shall be provided rations at the prevalent APL rates i.e. rice @ Rs 10/- and atta @ Rs. 8/- per kg. Besides, there shall be uniformly of scale @5 per kg per soul among all categories except the rationees covered under AAY who shall be provided rations @35 kgs per family.
The Minister further informed that his Department shall move towards the delivery of a highly targeted public distribution system as the development of the Robust Adhaar Enabled data Base shall help in identifying De-duplications and eradicating bogus ration cards. And if any identified beneficiary is denied ration he shall be given a food security allowance.
The Minister also apprised the Governor that among the other initiatives taken by his Department an e-PDS Project costing Rs 20 crore was being set up to regulate the supply chain management; mapping the entire movement of food grains from FCI Godowns to the ultimate customers; installation of IP cameras in the major Godowns in the State; electronic weighing scales at the sale points; display of stock positions; and online monitoring of foodgrains to make the system fully transparent.
The Minister stated that the Legal Metrology Department had booked 6,562 traders and imposed a penalty of Rs. 51.66 lacs in 2015-2016 while 5,596 traders were booked and penalty of Rs 47.00 lacs was imposed on them in 2014-2015. The Legal Metrology Department has already constructed and made functional two Laboratory-cum-Office buildings, one each at Jammu & Srinagar, and is planning to construct such buildings at each District Headquarters, with Central Assistance, for which pieces of land have already been identified.
The Governor was also informed about the development 5 “Smart tribal Villages” during the current financial year under the Convergence Scheme. He said that, for the first time, an attempt has been made for creation of tangible assets for making judicious use of tribal funds and ensuring availability of basic facilities like electricity, drinking water and road connectivity in the areas inhabited by the backward tribal population.
The Minister reported that an amount of Rs. 5.00 crore has been earmarked for the current financial year for imparting training in different trades to the tribal youths for achieving the twin targets of employability and market oriented skills for tribal youth. Besides, an amount of Rs. 7.00 crore has been approved to be released during the current financial year for construction of seven Tribal Hostels to be constructed at Samba, poonch, Rajouri, Bandipora, Baramulla, Kupwara and Srinagar. To streamline disbursement of scholarships to the tribal students, the scholarship amount now are being credited directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
The Governor complimented the Minister for the initiatives being taken by the Departments under his charge and urged him to keep the people fully informed about their entitlement of rations.