IEP Chandigarh, February 13
Emphasizing upon transparency factor which is the hallmark of the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann led Punjab Government, the Chairman, Punjab State Food Commission D.P. Reddy today directed the installation of CCTVs in the godowns storing foodgrains which would lead to curbing the malpractices.
Chairing a meeting of the Commission in the presence of the Director Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Ghanshyam Thori, the Chairman also said that the storage of wheat in the godowns must be ensured in a scientific manner besides the carrying out the physical verification (P.V.) at regular intervals.
Further, the Chairman also batted for the ePoS machines to be made available at every Fair Price Shop (FPS) in order to ensure more accountability in the distribution process of foodgrains. “A mechanism should be developed to enable the lodging of complaints or to forward suggestions in both Punjabi and Hindi languages regarding the working of the fair price shop owners besides updation of the notice boards to display helpline numbers and website address of the commission”, said Mr. Reddy.
Exhorting the officers to be in sync with the changing technology in today’s era, Mr. Reddy said that the social media handles of the commission should be followed by the Fair Price Shop dealers so as to create more awareness with regard to the activities of the commission.
The Chairman on the occasion was apprised that instructions have been issued to all the District Controllers in Punjab for issuing directions to the field functionaries as well as to Fair Price Shop owners to distribute foodgrains to the beneficiaries at the time of the biometric authentication and generation of slips.
Among others present on the occasion included Preety Chawla, Smt. Indra Gupta, Vijay Dutt, Chetan Prakash Dhaliwal, Members, Member Secretary of the Commission T.K. Goyal and Director, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Ghanshyam Thori.
