Food Act beneficiaries to get ration from Oct 11: Roy

Jharkhand Minister for Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affair, Saryu Roy today said the beneficiaries of the Food Security Act, will start getting their ration from October 11, the birth anniversary of JP movement leader Jai Prakash Narayan.
The National Food Security Act was formally launched in the state on September 25.
The process of distribution of ration cards among beneficiaries will be completed by October 10, when the department concerned will hold a review meeting to ensure the food grains are distributed to the Public Distribution Dealers and deliver it to the beneficiaries from next day, Roy said.
He told reporters that since everything including the list of PDS dealers were made afresh to implement the Act, there was the possibility of some delay.

All the shortfall, however, will be sorted out by the end of this month, he said.
The list of beneficiaries have been computerised and "we can add 30 lakh more beneficiaries to the list," he said.

Roy said the district administration including the Deputy Commissioners have been directed to inspect the PDS shops every month to ensure that the act was properly implemented. Altogether, there were 21 to 20000 PDS dealers in the state, he said.
The department has planned to equip all the dedicated door-step delivery vehicles with GPS system to ensure that it should not deviate from its identified route, he said.

People can lodge their complaint with a grievance cell using a toll-free number, he added.