Minister raids flour mills, imposes fine

Acting on complaints regarding substandard quality of flour and violation of Public Distribution System (PDS) norms, Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) Choudhary Zulfkar Ali conducted raids in various flour mills today.
The minister conducted surprise raids at 'New Jammu Flour Mill' and 'New Nav Flour Mill', an official spokesman said.
The minister took notice of Punjab-made flour packing bags being used in New Jammu flour mill which, he said, can be used for commercialised purpose bringing a bad name to the department.
He immediately suspended the mill supervisor and asked the mill employees to use bags tagged with J&K, PDS, batch number besides quantity and manufacturing date in future.

He also observed that the mill was not adhering to certain norms like separate compartment for grinding of PDS flour and sale of underweight flour bag both in case of commercial and PDS.
He imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the mill and asked the director to suspend lifting of PDS flour from the mill and issue a show-cause notice in this regard.

At New Nav Flour Mill, the Minister noticed multiple MRPs on flour bags besides use of un-calibrated filling machine and underweight bags.
He imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the mill. This mill was also not using separate compartment for grinding of PDS wheat.

The Minister constituted a committee headed by Deputy Director Food and Supplies to monitor functioning of flour mills and CAPD stores in all the districts besides ensuring strict adherence to the fixed norms by these units.
The Minister appealed to the people to register their complains at the department's grievances cell regarding the services of CAPD as timely and quality supply of essentials is prime concern of present dispensation.
"All efforts would be made to ensure that the people get hygienic and quality rations as they have to be dependent on our supply only", he said.
Earlier, the Minister also paid surprise visit to CAPD stores to get feedback on the directions issued by him regarding timely dispatch of rations to all destinations.