Will the ‘Chandranna Sankranti Kanuka’ be sweeter or sour? This question is stalks the people in West Godavari district. At a time when the government is going gaga over Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s festival gift which intends to sweeten their palates, the official machinery seems to have not prepared to launch the scheme on Friday, as scheduled.
The scheme proposes to distribute kits, with six items each such as jaggary, bengal gram, red gram, ghee, wheat flour and edible oil, to the white ration card holders by Friday.
The kits, bearing the pictures of Mr.Chandrababu Naidu and Civil Supplies Minister Paritala Sunitha, are being supplied to the respective district administrations, while the food materials are expected to be mobilised locally.
The beneficiaries are expected to receive the kits with the consignments from fair price shops on production of their white ration cards. An official from the Civil Supplies Department said that they required at least 2-3 days more to launch the scheme.
As the scheme was announced in the last minute, the officials were expressing doubts over it becoming a reality as promised.
It has become a daunting task for the administration to procure the items from different areas and pack them in the stipulated time.
Procurement of ghee and wheat flour has remained a concern, apart from packaging ghee in 100ml sachets. “Procurement of 11 lakh and odd kg of wheat flour for the alone in a short span has become a tough task, though indents have been placed for the stocks to be brought from Rajahmundry and Visakhapatnam,” District Supplies Officer S. Sivasankar Reddy told The Hindu .
Faced with acute shortage of workers, the administration has engaged Self Help Groups (SHG) women for packing of the items.
Procurement of 11 lakh kg of wheat flour for the district in a short span of time has become a tough task, though indents for the stocks have been placed
S. Sivasankar Reddy,WG District Supplies Officer
