Delhi’s ration cardholders were supposed to have started getting their free 1 kg of pulses by now, as promised by the Centre in its COVID-19 relief package. However, a number of ration shop owners have complained to the Delhi Food Department that the chana dal delivered to them for distribution had a high moisture content and could not be used.
Quality check
The Delhi government has scrapped plans to begin pulses distribution while it takes up the issue of a quality check with central agency NAFED. The central agency now says it will replace the 25 tonnes of stock that seem to have been affected, although NAFED officials maintained that the stock they had provided was of good quality, blaming the Delhi government for subsequent storage and transport conditions.
The State has more than 71 lakh people who are beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act, with a total of 17.5 lakh households which have ration cards.
Last month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced that a free additional ration allocation of wheat and rice, as well as one1 kg of pulses would be provided to each household covered by the NFSA for the three months of April, May and June, as part of relief measures to help poor families cope with the impact of COVID-19.
On April 15, the Delhi Food department directed the Delhi State Civil Supplies Corporation to pick up the 1,750 tonnes of chana dal for the month of April from NAFED’s designated delivery points at Timarpur and Sirajpur and ensure that they were made available in all fair price or ration shops by April 30.
“The whole quantity of chana dal is now lying ready in the fair price shops. But we got complaints from 15 to 20 FPS shopkeepers that the dal has too much moisture content and will not be usable,” said Desh Raj Singh, assistant commissioner in the Food Department, adding that further complaints were expected. “We have sent a report to NAFED, and suspended distribution until we get their response.”
A senior NAFED official told The Hindu that complaints had arisen regarding only one truckload of the chana dal of the 68 trucks of stock that were sent. The central agency has communicated its willingness to replace the 25 tonnes of stock from that truck.
“We have deployed world renowned surveyors SGS at both the delivery points to check the quality of stock by testing samples in each truck before it was sent out on April 13. Then 10 to 15 days after taking delivery, they [Delhi government] started sending the stocks to their FPS shops,” said the official, who did not wish to be named.
“We take five samples from every truck, and one goes to Delhi government while two each stay with SGS and NAFED. How is it that only the Delhi government’s sample shows high moisture content while ours is fine? Still, we do not want to tarnish the objective of the programme, so we will replace the 25 tonnes of stock,” said the official, adding that the process would be completed within one day.
The central agency has come under fire for delays in distribution of pulses, mostly due to problems in processing and milling its unmilled stock of pulses. Only 15% of the promised free pulses for April had been distributed nationwide by April 25.
