Sans weighing machines at PDS outlets, no check on quantity of wheat, flour supplied to beneficiaries
Neeraj Bagga
Amritsar, March 4
Beneficiaries of the Public Distribution System (PDS) are at receiving end as they are unable to weigh wheat and flour supplied to them. Hardly any depot holder under the PDS scheme has a weighing machine.
Beneficiaries of the PDS havw raised doubts over the weight of grains and wheat flour supplied to them. A beneficiary on condition of anonymity said mere talk about weighing grains or wheat flour elicited rude remarks from depot holders.
“In this regard, their terse reply is that there is huge rush of beneficiaries. Large quantity of grains and wheat flour is supplied to them,” he said.
He said, “There is hardly any mechanism at the PDS shops to authenticate the weight of subsidised ration delivered to beneficiaries free of cost.”
There are at least 3.47 lakh card holders in the district, who get free wheat flour and grains from the state government. Consumers have a choice to choose from either to accept flour or wheat grains.
Sartaj Singh, District Food Supplies Controller, said weighing machines were provided to depot holders so that they could weigh wheat flour and grains before handing these over to beneficiaries. He said, “Beneficiaries can ask depot holders to check weight of the ration supplied to them. Besides, Markfed has 60 Model Fair Shops and 70 mobile vans for distribution of free wheat under the PDS. Markfed has signed a contract with flour mills to lift flour. There is hardly any doubt about the weight of packed grains or flour.”
He said teams of the Food Supplies Department would check outlets of depot holders to find out whether they had weighing machines or not.
