Chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao’s reluctance to favourably consider the fair price shop dealers’ demands despite their agitations for almost a year, has puzzled many.
Besides, Mr. Rao has recently mooted a proposal for scrapping the PDS in favour of the Direct Benefit Transfer. The government’s decision is set to affect a total of 17,200 dealers across the State.
Major demand of the dealers was payment of an honorarium of ₹30,000 per month, besides health cards, housing, insurance.
Their contention was that, the income from fair price shops had dwindled over the years, with the government cutting down the commodities being given through ration shops.
The expenditure on shop rents, power bills, and payment to the clerk far exceeded the commission, they claim.
The FPS dealers’ associations have given a number of petitions to the minister Eatala Rajender and Civil Supplies Commissioner C.V. Anand, who have reportedly represented their issues to the Chief Minister, with whom no appeal has cut any ice. Officials from the department feel that the dealers’ demands were negotiable.
“As per the Food Security Act, the commission they get on a kilogram of rice should be increased from 20 paise to 70 paise, which has not been done,” an official shared.
The dealers did not complain as long as no account was kept of the commodities. Trouble began with installation of E-PoS machines, as they deprived the dealers of the unaccounted profits, the official said.
If not honorarium, they should be paid the legitimate amount of commission over the PDS rice.
There are two associations for the ration dealers, each vying for the tag of representing the highest number of dealers. Battula Ramesh Babu, the president of the Telangana State Ration Dealers Welfare Association, was in no mood to confront the State government with regard to the demands.
“We are not interested in taking the government head on. Instead, we will try to meet the Chief Minister and convince him,” he says, demanding, however, that the direct benefit transfer move by the government should be withdrawn. If not, the dealers will go on strike from December 1.
The other organisation, Telangana Ration Dealers Welfare Association, headed by Nayi Koti Raju, is up in arms against the government’s decision, and held a public meeting on October 27.
In their subsequent meeting on Monday, the association has announced that the dealers will stop lifting ration commodities from November 1, protesting government’s inaction and the proposed DBT scheme.
Further, it demanded the release of ₹415 crore dues as per the Food Security Act, pending for over two years.
