Ration shops: Stock of sugar, pulses drying out

Chennai: Hundreds of ration shops and a few warehouses owned by state are now left with inadequate stocks of sugar, pulses and other provisions.

The usual practice is to hold food grain stocks for 60 to 90 days, but now this practice has completely been ignored for the reasons best known to the authorities.

 In case of masur dal, which is given in replacement to the tur dal, the ration shops are not supplying the dal.  

 Essential commodities like rice and wheat are also procured from Food Corporation of India and stored in 292 operational godowns across the state. There are 34,686 fair price shops but the distribution system is adversely affected after the centre started imposing Food Security Act and the implementation of Aadhaar seeding, sources said. There are seven godowns in Chennai and only last week palm oil was supplied.

 At present, there are stocks but there is no fixed date for the allocation of provisions to fair price shops. Further with the Madras High Court ordering to check the quality of masur dal with King Institute Guindy, the supply of dal was affected early this month. 

Now after certifications the dal is supplied to shops but there are provisions at the shops to sell the masur dal item as the billing machines do not have the option of masur dal. This again adds to the delay of dal sales, informed state official sources said.

 When contacted food minister R. Kamaraj said there is no need to panic and denied allegations. Adequate dal, rice, sugar and other provisions are stored adequate at all our godowns, the minister said.  

PDS Woes
In case of masur dal, which is given in replacement to the tur dal, the ration shops are not supplying the dal
There are seven godowns in Chennai and only last week palm oil was supplied
 At present, there are stocks but there is no fixed date for the allocation of provisions to fair price shops
 There are 34,686 fair price shops but the distribution system is adversely affected after the Centre started after the implementation of Aadhaar seeding, say sources