Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CA&PD) and Tribal Affairs, Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali today paid surprise visit to CA&PD Food stores and sale depots at Arnia, Samba and took stock of availability, distribution of food grains and other essential commodities.During visit to the CAPD Food Store in Arnia, the Minister found irregularities in ration distribution. He placed Area Inspector Legal Metrology under suspension for dereliction in duty and directed Director CAPD to attach Tehsil Supply Officer (TSO) and Storekeeper with Directorate of CA&PD. The Minister seized all the records and weight and measure equipments and asked the Director to hold inquiry in the matter.Zulfkar directed the concerned to maintain records properly to bring transparency and accountability in the Public Distribution System.
He also attended functions organized by the CAPD department at Vijaypur and Pakhri village. He said that the main objective to organize these programmes is to generate awareness among masses about the ration distribution as per the 2011 census.Minister for Industries and Commerce Chander Parkash Ganga also attended the function. Deputy Commissioner Samba, Sheetal Nanda, Director CAPD Jammu G.S. Chib, Deputy Director CAPD Arun Kotwal, SDM Vijaypur Rajneesh Gupta, AD CAPD Samba Zeeshan Tahir and other officers were also present on the occasion.While addressing the gathering, the CAPD Minister said that the present Government was committed to fulfill the commitments made during elections by providing basic amenities like roads, electricity, water supply, education, healthcare at their doorsteps. He said new ration depots would be opened in those areas where existing ration depot has more than 250 ration cards so that the food grains would be provided to every household as per prescribed scale. He said that uncovered hamlets would be covered soon and specific instructions have been issued in this regard to the concerned authorities to identify the left out areas so that adequate quantity of ration would be provided in every nook and corner of the state.He urged upon the people to personally monitor quality, quantity, rate of food grains and other essential commodities to contain black marketing and other malpractices.
In his address, Chander Prakash Ganga said that coalition Government is committed to provide corruption free and good governance. He hoped that identified new ration depots shall start functioning soon.The Ministers also distributed free supplementary ration among 2014 flood victims of Pakhri village, Samba. He said that special attention is being paid by the government to provide ration and other essentials to border people to accommodate their basic requirements.The Minister appreciated the efforts of Samba administration in updating the list of rationees in the shortest possible time. He also directed the Director CAPD to give recommendations on opening new depots to reduce waiting times. He exhorted department functionaries to distribute ration in fair and responsible manner.Earlier, the Ministers met deputations from Tarore and Patli Morh of Vijaypur constituency. The locals apprised about the shortage of ration, Kerosene oil and other essentials in their areas.The CAPD Minister on spot issued instructions to the concerned officers to redress grievances on priority.