Friday, 20 January 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Rekha Arya on Thursday suspended the District Supply Officer (DSO) of Pithoragarh for non-payment of bills of ration dealers since 2020. Arya held a review meeting with all departmental officials and representatives of ration dealers of all districts at the Secretariat in Dehradun on Thursday. The ration dealers of several districts raised the issue of not getting their dues for long. The ration dealers from Pithoragarh stated to Arya about not getting paid by the DSO since 2020. Taking cognizance of the issue, she immediately issued an order to suspend the Pithoragarh DSO and asked the officials to clear the pending payments of all ration dealers within 15 days. She said stringent action will be taken against those who will fail to comply with the order. The ration dealers also apprised Arya about the problem caused in ration distribution due to inconvenience caused by biometric machines installed at fair price shops, especially in mountainous areas, due to lack of network connectivity and other issues. Arya said that the department is working to resolve the issues but the respective ration dealers must give ration to beneficiaries by registering their names manually in a register to ensure no one is deprived of monthly ration. She also directed all DSOs and ration dealers to display outside their premises a list of names of people who are ineligible to become beneficiaries but are still receiving ration from fair price shops. The list would help others to identify such people who can complain about them to the administration, added Arya. She has also issued directions to DSOs to mark such ration card holders who have not taken ration from fair price shops for over past six months. She said that the department would issue notices to all the identified beneficiaries seeking answers as to why they did not take the ration. If they do not respond in time, the department will cancel their ration cards, added Arya.
