People finding it difficult to get ration from govt depots

Tribune News Service

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Doda, May 4

The lockdown has brought everything to a standstill, poor people living in twin districts of Doda and Kishtwar are facing difficulties in getting free ration from the administration.

The biggest hurdle in getting the ration is the absence of government ration depots in their vicinity.

People in many areas of these two districts have to travel 20 kilometers to get the ration from the nearest depot. At a time when the government has advised to stay indoors and said ration would be delivered at their doorsteps, it has become difficult for the people of the Chenab valley to get ration, which is the most backward area of Jammu and Kashmir.

“In the Sarthal, Budar, Burdhar and Kanu areas of Kishtwar district, Ponan and Bagotra in Doda district, people have to travel 10 to 20 kilometers to reach a ration depot to get the ration. Here, they get only five kilograms of ration per head and when they reach back home, they feel it is not worth going that far to get 5 kg of ration,” said Ghulam Muhammad Saroori, a Congress leader.

But the Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCV&CA) Department has refuted these claims of Saroori and said they had given ration to the people at their doorsteps.

“It is factually incorrect that people have to travel 10 to 20 kilometers to get ration. We have ration stores in every village and maximum a person has to travel one kilometer to fetch the ration from the store,” said Ghulam Rasool, Assistant Director, FCS&CA, Doda and Kishtwar.