Tahsildar Nitinkumar Deore instructed Fair Price Shop (FPS) owners to give priority to works brought in by poor people.
On Friday, Tahsildar Nitin Deore warned Fair Price Shop (FPS) owners of strict action if they were found to be involved in black marketing of food grains meant for the poor and the needy. Deore said action will be taken and cases will be filed against such FPS owners under relevant provisions of the Essential Commodities Act.
As Tahsildar Malegaon, Deore oversees the supply department for rural parts other than areas covered by the Malegaon Municipal Corporation (MMC). In these rural areas, there are 175 FPS owners operating under the Public Distribution System (PDS), the highly ambitious food security programme of the Government of India.
He instructed FPS operators to ensure that food grains were reaching to rightful beneficiaries, more importantly to make sure that the underprivileged and the destitute were not being left behind. Deore asked all 175 FPS owners to keep their record book up-to-date. At the meeting with the FPS owners, Supply Inspection Officer (SIO) Prashant Kathepuri, Inspector Praveen Kedar and FPS Owners’ Association President Jitendra Patil were present.
Out of 175 FPSs in Malegaon rural areas, 85 such PDS outlets have worked to bag the ISO 9000 certification. Remaining shops have been instructed to get this certification at the earliest through proper and online distribution of food grains.
“Other than food distribution, what is more important is that villagers mainly beneficiaries are treated with respect. We have instructed the FPS owners to distribute food grains regularly without charging extra. Besides, they have also been asked to give receipt to the ration card holders from the Point of Sale (POS) machines,” Deore said.
Apart from that, FPS owners were directed to do Aadhaar and mobile number seeding in maximum number. Tahsildar Deore directed them to provide all facilities to the poor, orphans, blind and the disabled citizens coming at their PDS outlets.
