The public and the ration dealers are facing great difficulties owing to the flaws in the policy adopted for the distribution of commodities. According to the norms, a cardholder can buy commodities from any ration shop in the country. However, commodities allowed to be drawn against the ration card are mostly not available in the shops that are approached by the cardholder.
For example, fortified boiled rice would be available in Kuttanad taluk. But in Kottayam taluk, the authorities would supply fortified matta rice and raw rice to the dealers for distribution. Thus, fortified boiled rice that is allowed for the cardholder from Kuttanad would not be available in Kottayam. To get his share of the ration commodity, the cardholder would have to travel to Kuttanad taluk and back.
Since the combination billing facility that was meant to allow the supply of the rice available in stock at the shop as a substitute for the allotted commodity has been discontinued, the ration dealer is unable to help the cardholder. The distribution protocol of the taluk in which the card is registered is entered into the ePoS machines. Only if changes are made to this system will people benefit from the facility.
Not milling wheat in a time-bound manner to supply flour to ration shops is also a problem. The holders of yellow ration cards were being given 2 kgs of wheat flour priced at Rs 7 per kg and pink card holders 3 kgs of flour at Rs 9 per kg. Since wheat flour could not be made available on time last month, an order was issued on October 2, extending the distribution to this month. However, ePoS machines were updated with the system requirements only the other day. As a practical measure, if the machine is set to allow the supply of wheat to the cardholders when flour is not available, it will not only benefit the people but also ensure the commission due to the dealers. One kilogram of sugar priced at Rs 21 per kg that was being supplied to the holders of the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) category of card holders for a long time came to a stop last month. The reason is that sugar has not reached Supplyco's depots. There is also a shortage of sugar at the Maveli stores.
Meanwhile, the contracts for transporting ration commodities from the National Food Security Act (NFSA) godowns to the dealers’ premises have expired in many places. For this reason, commodities are not reaching the ration shops, although they are remaining stocked in the godowns. The organisations of ration dealers are preparing for an agitation.
