ITANAGAR, 16 Jun: The Arunachal Pradesh Fair Price Dealers Welfare Association (APFPDWA) has submitted a 9-point representation to the food, civil supplies and consumer affairs minister, highlighting the various challenges faced by the association on a daily basis.
The association urged the minister to enhance the margin money from the current Rs 180 per quintal to Rs 250, stating that the margin money being provided is meagre and does not suffice to cover the operational cost.
In its representation, the association also urged the minister to release the state’s 25% matching share immediately, along with the margin money on a monthly basis. The association said that the margin money has not been released since October 2024.
It urged the minister to enhance the rice allotment to a minimum of 15 kgs per person per month.
“We, the people of Arunachal Pradesh, mostly depend on rice, unlike other states where wheat or other cereals are substitutes for rice. As we have a very limited area of cultivation due to hilly terrain, getting 5 kgs per person of rice is extremely insufficient,” the association said, urging the minister to consider the matter.
Further, the association urged the minister to consider an additional 1 kg per quintal quota for handling losses, stating that significant losses are incurred during transportation, loading, and unloading.
Stating that the supply of sugar, dal, wheat, and SK oil has been discontinued for a very long time, the association urged the minister to consider continuing the supply of those items through FPS dealers for public convenience.
The association further urged the minister to issue a directive to the director of food & civil supplies to issue a fresh notification to all DFCSOs to release a fresh order for Aadhaar seeding through ePoS machines using eKYC for all FPS owners to rectify beneficiary members.
“It has been observed that the data already recorded on the portal is mixed up and cannot be displayed accurately. As a result, many beneficiaries are facing difficulties during biometric authentication,” the representation said.
The association appealed to the minister to provide Rs 50,000 per month as an honorarium to FPS dealers.
“We, the FPS owners, are dealing with the distribution of rice items every month without any benefit for long years and are doing hard work in providing free services to all the beneficiaries as social workers,” it said, and urged the minister to consider the appeal.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the current criteria for carriage charges, which are Rs 327 for hard belt and Rs 100 for soft belt on a lump sum basis, the association urged the minister to consider changing the prevailing system of payment of carriage charges to a per kg/per km system.
The association also urged that frequent checks be conducted at all FCI depots to ensure accurate rice measurement during the receipt of food grains.
“It has been observed that most FCI godowns do not follow proper weight and measurement procedures, leading to handling losses and disputes between beneficiaries and FPS dealers due to shortages of food grains,” it added.
