PDS has gone for a toss in the Valley: CPI(M)

CPI(M) today expressed concern over "malfunctioning" of the state Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) Department, saying "existing practices of the department smelt of organised corruption".
"The Public Distribution System has gone for a toss in the Valley. While we are still in the month of May, the department has stopped providing ration for this month and is now issuing the ration for June," CPI(M) state secretary Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said in a statement here.
"Why are the poor denied an opportunity of availing rations for the entire month?" he asked.
The CPI(M) leader said, scores of delegations informed him that the CAPD department has issued an order to stop giving rations for a particular month after 24th day of that month.

Tarigami said, the practice is definitely going to result in non-lifting of stocks from ration depots, which seems to be the aim of corrupt elements in the system.
"It is this stock, which cannot be lifted from the ration depots that find their way into the black market later," he added.

Tarigami said, the situation in kerosene distribution was worse than the food grain distribution.
"Depot holders are not providing kerosene for the past two months on the pretext that no supplies have been received," he alleged.
Tarigami appealed the state CAPD minister to intervene and ensure that people of the Valley have an opportunity to avail ration for the entire month.