There was chaos at fair price shops as public lined up to collect the package of essential commodities as promised by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to those affected by cyclone Hudhud in Visakhapatnam.
At the distribution, which was supposed to begin from Thursday, serpentine queues were seen and the dealers were able to supply only 25 kg of rice per household against a ration card. Those who waited patiently for hours to pick up the groceries carrying huge bags were disappointed as they have to make do with only rice. “Our day’s schedule has come to a grinding halt and we were given only rice after all the jostling for more than six hours in the queue,” says M. Rajeswari at Srinivasa Nagar fair price shop in Old Akkayyapalem.
While expressing happiness at the idea, people in the queue were upset over the way it was handled. “After waiting for almost half a day, we have been finally given 25 kg of rice that has so much of moisture. When we asked the fair price dealer about it, we got a rude response,” says Sreenu Babu near Kancharapalem ration depot.
Some of the fair price shop dealers said that they did not get enough supplies and hence they had to manage with the limited supply of rice on the first day.