Focus on hill food supply

Darjeeling, June 30: The state government is looking at revamping the public distribution system in the region, terming it a top priority of the food and supplies department.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the dominant party in the hills with three MLAs, has, however, demanded that the entire population in the hills be brought under BPL category as far as PDS system was concerned.

Yesterday, the government had announced the doubling of the foodgrain allotment for the hills for a year.

The last BPL classification in the hills took place in early 2000 and only people from parts of Kalimpong sub-division were brought under the category. The remaining parts of the hills are given foodgrain under a special hill PDS. In this system, the beneficiaries buy grain at a rate slightly below the price meant for the APL category in the plains and more than the BPL.

State food minister Jyotipriya Mullick, who was in Darjeeling today, said: “The revamp of the PDS in the hills is now our top priority. In the plains, a dealer usually covers around 3,500-4000 card holders in a radius of 10km. In the hills, this radius is a huge area and people have to spend money on transport to reach the dealers. We will, therefore, appoint dealers for every 3km in the hills.”

The department will also write to the Indian Oil Corporation to appoint two kerosene agents for Kalimpong sub-division and one for Kurseong.

“Food supply to the hills have also been doubled (see chart),” said Mullick.

The state government is also looking at reviving monitoring and vigilance committees across the state apart from appointing quality control staff. “The committees will include apolitical people like headmasters at the village level who will regularly monitor the quality of foodgrain distributed. At the district-level, the sabhadipati and district magistrate will be on the committee,” he added.

The minister visited Kanchan View tea garden, 4km from town, and ordered his staff to camp on the estate and issue Antoday Anna Yojana cards to the 180-odd workers within July 15. “The workers need not come to the office, the officers will go to them,” said Mullick.

Morcha president Bimal Gurung and general secretary Roshan Giri met the minister at the Darjeeling circuit house in the afternoon. “We have thanked the government for doubling the foodgrain allotment to the hills. We have, however, requested the minister to double the kerosene and sugar quantities and also give BPL category status to the people of the region as it is a non-producing area,” said Giri after the meeting.

The minister said he would go back to Calcutta and check the amount of kerosene and sugar that could be added to the existing stock.

N.D. Bhutia, the president of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Modified Ration Dealers’ Association, said the government gives only Rs 20 for the transport of a quintal of grain.

“This is insufficient. The government should conduct a survey and find out the cost incurred during transportation,” said Bhutia. The dealers claimed they received a commission of Rs 45 for a quintal of wheat, Rs 21 on flour and Rs 15 for sugar.

“This is too low for us to survive. If the government does not want to increase the commission, then they should give us a monthly salary of Rs 25,000. This will stem corruption,” said Bhutia.

In Siliguri, Mullick said “bar-coded” ration cards would be introduced to counter fake cards. “We will need Rs 200 crore to implement the scheme that has been discussed with Wipro and Webel. A demonstration of the proposal would be made before the chief minister on July 2.”

The Telegraph