Srinagar: Department of Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) Kashmir has started distributing three months advance food grains to its consumers, Minister Choudhary Zulfkar Ali was informed Saturday.
The information was provided to the Minister during a review meeting, where he was informed that so far three month food grain distribution was done in four districts Ganderbal, Bandipora, Leh and Kargil of Kashmir province. The Minister was assured that from next month the same process would be extended to other districts of the province.
Welcoming the initiative, the Minister said although Government was keen to start the initiative much earlier, however, it was due to some technical glitches that the process took some time to kick start.
The Minister said the intention behind taking the initiative is to save the consumers from the unnecessary hassle of visiting fair price shops and government food stores frequently. Besides, the step would also save time of consumers, the Minister added.
During the meeting, the Minister reiterated need for early completion of Aadhar seeding of ration cards. He said the process needs to be completed at earliest so that the benefits meant for a particular category of people could reach to them without any adulteration or interference. Choudhary Zulfkar Ali also stressed on the directors of FCS&CA from both Jammu and Kashmir provinces to go for online food allocation. He directed FCS&CA Director Kashmir that except for Kupwara, Srinagar, and Pulwama all the districts in Kashmir province should start online food allocation with next two months.
Directing for an early implementation of ‘Supply Chain Management’ (SCM), the Minister said all concerned should ensure that the SCM is implemented from August. He directed to do a trial run of the process on district Samba in next month. It would enable to find and address any kind shortcomings before implementing it across the State.
During the meeting, the Minister also instructed for ensuring that the complete details about vigilance monitoring committee (VMC) and its members is posted on departmental website. Besides, he also directed that the committee members should be notified through SMS service about the food grains dispatched to their respective areas so that they could monitor if the same amount reached to their areas or not.
To enhance monitoring of distribution process, the Minister urged both the directors to ensure that “Command and Control Rooms” are established in their respective provinces by next month. He said through these control rooms the movement of vehicles carrying food grains and distribution of food grains at the respective stores could easily be monitored. It would enhance the transparency and would put instant stop on any kind of pilferage, if there was any, the Minister added.
Secretary, FCS&CA Shafiq Raina, Director FCS&CA Jammu, R A Inqalibi, Director FCS&CA Kashmir, Nissar Ahmad Wani, Deputy Secretary, FCS&CA Arun Kumar Kotwal, Scientist E, NIC Sunil Koul and other concerned officers were present in the meeting.
