Beneficiary-friendly fair price shops soon

LUCKNOW: Soon, the state government will construct fair price shops that are equipped with all basic facilities and easily accessible by beneficiaries and ration delivery vans. The move comes after the introduction of the single-stage ration delivery system in the state. Rural and urban local bodies have been asked to take the necessary steps with the resources available with them under different schemes including MGNREGA.

The state currently has 80,000 fair price (FP) shops, both in villages and cities. Most ration dealers operate from their own premises that are often located in narrow lanes, which causes inconvenience to the beneficiaries and the government vehicles that get the ration delivered to different places.

Principal secretary (Food and Civil Supplies) Veena Kumari Meena said efforts were underway to develop fair price shops in such a way that every person and delivery vehicle can visit them without any issue.

“We have urged rural and urban development departments to get these shops built through the local bodies,” she added.

As per the government decision, such shops will be built on an area of not less than 225 sq.ft and have a 100 sq.ft verandah that can function as the waiting area for beneficiaries.

“Also, one such shop will be built for every 4,000 ration units. They should also be located closer to panchayat bhawans in villages and community centres in cities,” a GO read.

People aware of the issue said the National Food Security Act, 2013 provided for the availability of dedicated PDS shops for greater convenience of beneficiaries and operational transparency. The U.P. had also planned to make ration shops act as common service centers providing various citizen services at one place.

“U.P. is already implementing door-step delivery of food grains through the single-stage transportation, which effectively curbs pilferage and diversion of subsidized ration meant for the poor after a protracted legal battle against vested interests,” another official said. The singlestage transportation system that is already in place in some districts seeks to deliver food grains from FCI godowns direct to ration dealers.