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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Bengal ration shops threaten stir by Rohit Khanna

Bengal ration shops threaten stir by Rohit Khanna

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published Published on Jul 21, 2010   modified Modified on Jul 21, 2010

Faced with acute shortage in supply of foodgrain in the public distribution system (PDS), all fair price shop owners in the state have decided to down their shutters from September 20 for an indefinite period. Three year ago, ration shops were gutted and many dealers had to go underground after food riots due to shortage.

Surprisingly, minister of food & supplies Paresh Adhikari appeared to be unaware of the situation. “We are yet to get complaints of such a shortage from the dealers. We will take necessary steps once they complain,” he told FE.

According to him, there is a huge gap between the price at which the state procures foodgrain and the issue price. “We have asked Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and RBI governor D Subbarao to look into the matter.”

West Bengal MR Dealers’ Association and All Bengal Fair Price Shop Welfare Association have decided to move jointly after a token strike on July 30. Meanwhile, the committee set up by the ministry of food & supplies of West Bengal to review matters related to PDS and some non-PDS items is yet to submit its report.

The shortage in supply is acute in the state specially for the segment covered under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY). According to state government records, there is shortage of 99.7 tonne of rice and 47.78 tonne of wheat annually in the AAY scheme.

“We cannot face the rage of the beneficiaries of PDS. If the situation does not improve soon we will again see a re-run of what happened three years back,” said Jagannath Koley, president of the West Bengal MR Dealers’ Association. There are almost 7.67 crore ration card holders in the state including 2.04 crore minors of which almost 30% are under below poverty line (BPL) category and centrally sponsored schemes like Annapurna and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY). “The state government has not revised the list for AAY scheme after 1997 and thousands of applications are pending with the state government,” Koley said.

Wheat shortage in the BPL category is around 3,511 tonne annually and for the APL category it is around 17,781 tonne annually. The associations will also get support from the kerosene dealers who are facing a similar shortage in supplies.

“We can distribute around 750 ml of kerosene per head per month in the rural areas. There is an acute shortage of supplies. In fact, allotment of kerosene has come down from 1 litre per month per head in rural areas in 2000 to 750 ml now,” Ashoke Gupta, state secretary of West Bengal Kerosene Dealers’ Association said.


The Financial Express, 20 July, 2010, http://www.financialexpress.com/news/bengal-ration-shops-threaten-stir/648846/0


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