Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Oct 3: Taking note of the recurrent complaints regarding supply of substandard food-grains by the Food Corporation of India (FCI), Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) and Tribal Affairs, Choudhary Zulfkar Ali today said there would be no compromise on the quality of rations and the FCI should ensure supply of good quality food-grains to Jammu and Kashmir.
Chairing a preparatory meeting regarding implementation of National Food Security Act (NFSA), the Minister warned that if FCI fails to provide quality food-grains to J&K, the CA&PD Department will be forced to explore alternative supply channels to ensure better rations for consumers.
“The CA&PD department is not going to accept substandard food-grains in anyway,” the Minister made it clear reiterating that while J&K pays FCI fully in advance for the food-grains it lifts, the State will not accept inferior quality rations from the Corporation.
Deliberating on implementation of NFSA in the state, the Minister said the proposed move is aimed at marking a paradigm shift in addressing the shortage of food from the current welfare approach to right-based.
The Minister designated an officer of the rank of Additional Secretary to monitor implementation of NFSA. The officer has been assigned the job of preparing a holistic and comprehensive roadmap portraying issues and challenges for implementation of NFSA in light of the total allocation, food storage capacity and funds required for the purpose besides weather conditions and its impact on the storage.
He asked the officers of the Department to refer all the vacant posts to the recruiting agencies in line with recently launched Fast Track Recruitment Policy.
“A well trained field functionary is vital for removing diversions and bottlenecks and to ensure a foolproof Public Distribution System (PDS) in place for fulfilling the ambitious endeavor of the government to benefit the consumers of the state,” the Minister said.
He asked the officers to prepare the list of vacancies available in the department and refer them to the recruiting agencies on priority so that recruitment can be done on fast track basis.
Reviewing the progress of opening of new FPS, Ch Zulfkar asked the officers to evolve a comprehensive mechanism to expedite the work for the opening of FPS in the valley.
Laying stress on installation of Electronic Weighing Machines (EWM) at CAPD outlets, the Minister said the EWMs will help in bringing transparency and accountability in the PDS system.
Secretary CAPD, Sourabh Bhagat, Director CAPD Kashmir, Director CAPD Jammu and other senior officers of the department were present in the meeting include.
Meanwhile, Government has banned Rani juice in entire State and advised people to avoid its consumption till further orders. The order has been issued as the company has flooded the entire market with expired stocks and was selling the same by getting the expiry dates fudged by way of overwriting.
“We don’t want to take any chance as the expired product can have severe ramifications on human health so as a precautionary measure, the Government has banned it in the State till further orders,” Minister for CAPD said, adding “the company has been asked to forthwith lift the expired stocks failing which stern action would be taken against it for playing with the health of the people of J&K”.
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