Stock crunch at ration shops: Poor people in a tizzy

Shalibanda: Almost 70 percent of the Fair Price Shops (FPS) in Old City have run out of stock for about a week. While some of the dealers have shut their shutters down, others are sending back the beneficiaries empty hands citing non-availability of stock. Officials concerned have refuted the claims and held that the situation remained normal under their watch.

In Circle-2 under Civil Supplies Department which covers most parts of the Old City, the FPS dealers were downing their shutters or kept fingers crossed as there was no stock available for them to disburse. The beneficiaries were seen leaving the shops without buying the monthly stock from the dealers. "In circle-2 there are 101 ration shops, in which 70 ration shops were left without any stock.

For the last 10-12 days, no new stock arrived in these shops. In a survey conducted in Shalibanda and surrounding areas in Old City we found that there are around 10 Fair Price Shops but none of these has stock and dealers were closing down their shops," said Senior Congress leader & State Rajiv Seva Samithi president, K Venkatesh.

According to the ration dealers, the monthly stock arrives in 3 phases and lasts up to 10th of every month, but this month only stock of 1st phase has been supplied till 5th of the month from the civil supplies department. In each of the ration shop, monthly a quantity of 200 kg of rice on an average is supplied, but this month the supply was only 100 kg", said a dealer in Lal Darwaza, on condition of anonymity.

He said that there are more than 1,000 ration card holders in each shop and the figure increases two fold at big dealers, he explained. "Already 15 days of month has crossed, which is the last day for the consumers to purchase the ration from FPS, but they are running out of stock and most of them remained closed. Consumers were seen leaving the shops with empty bags.

The situation was seen in Lal Darwaza, Gowlipura, Shahalibanda, Qazipura, Shahgunj, Bahadurpura, Tadban and in many more areas. The consumers can be seen frustrated for not getting the monthly ration", said Venkatesh.

"More than 60 per cent of the consumers had not purchased the ration due to the lack of stock in shops. How can the citizens sustain for the month without ration?" asked the leader.

When The Hans India contacted the senior officials, they refuted that the FP shops were running out of stock. Ironically, it is said that the dealers might not have procured the supplies from the department. "There is no issue of stock from the department. The dealers would not have taken a stock and it is their work to take the stock from authorities", said P. Alivelu Mangamma, DGM (PDS).