Srinagar: Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs and Information, Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali Thursday chaired a meeting to review the stock and supply position of essentials in Kashmir division and extra arrangements made by the department for winter season.
The meeting was attended by Director FCS&CA Nisar Ahmad Wani, Senior Superintendent Traffic NHI Sanjay Bhagat, Assistant Directors (ADs) FCS&CA and other concerned officers.
The Minister took strong note of oil companies falling behind in maintaining the stocks. He warned them that the government would not tolerate any lapse in making available sufficient stock supply of essential commodities, especially petroleum products in Kashmir division for the winter months.
Zulfkar Ali asked the oil companies operating in the State to always dump stocks in advance, primarily petrol and LPG so that people do not face difficulty in case the National Highway gets closed due to bad weather. He instructed SSP Traffic to prioritize clearance of vehicles carrying petroleum products so that the sufficient stocks are maintained.
The Minister was informed that dumping of essentials for six months in snowbound areas of Guraz, Karnah, Keran, Machil, Budnambal, Jamgund, Kumkandhi, Leh, and Kargil has already been completed. It was further informed that advance stocks for three months have also been made available in the areas like Doodhpathri, Walhoo, Pahalgam, Aripal, Anderwani, Boniyar .
Giving the break-up of advance stocks, the Minister was informed that for border belt of Kupwara 60003.71 quintals (qtls) of rice, 14536.99 qtls of atta, and 3233.08 qtls of sugar and for Gurez 62267.30 qtls rice, 20651.24 qtls atta, 4297.01 qtls sugar has already been supplied.
Similarly 62267.30 qtls rice, 20651.24 qtls atta, and 4297.01 qtls have been stocked for Leh district 59365.85 qtls rice , 36168 qtls of atta and 7001.96 qtls sugar has been supplied for Kargil district.
The Minister expressed satisfaction over the work done by the department so far. He said FCS&CA department is directly linked with the people and it becomes mandatory on its functionaries to take every possible step to ensure that consumers do not face any difficulty, especially during winter months.
The Minister also announced that the government has decided to increase the cap of rice from 35 kgs to 50 kgs per family under MMSFES for remote areas of Doda, Kishtawar, Ladakh , Bandipora and Kupwara.
The Minister clarified that Aadhar card is not mandatory for ration card distribution. He asserted that no one should be deprived of their allotted food grains for not having the Aadhar card.
He further informed that the Government has decided to start the operation of electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) machines on a pilot basis in three districts viz Srinagar, Budgam, and Ganderbal of Kashmir division from November 21.
Encouraging the departmental functionaries for good work, the Minister said Government has decided to reward the employees with an appreciation certificate who do a phenomenal work in GIS capturing of food stores and Fair Price Shops (FPSs) and in constituting of Vigilance Monitoring Committees (VMSs).
It was informed that the officers nominated for GIS capturing are AD Anantnag, AD Bandipora, AD Baramulla, AD Budgam, AD Ganderbal, AD Kargil, AD Kulgam, AD Kupwara, AD Pulwama, AD Shopian, and AD Srinagar, and those for constituting VMCs are AD Budgam, AD Bandipora, AD Baramulla, AD Kulgam, AG Shopian, AD Baramulla, AD Kupwara, AD Pulwama, and AD Kargil.
Referring to proposal of opening additional Fair Price Shops (FPSs), the Minister directed the concerned to make these functional immediately after completing the paperwork. He said while the newly opened FPSs will provide employment to many, they would greatly help consumers too as they would be able to easily get their allotted food grains from the nearby store.
