The State government has decided to remove the fair price shop (FPS) dealers who are unwilling to supply subsidised rice and a few other commodities to Below Poverty Line (BPL) households in the name of strike and appoint new dealers in their place to ensure the supply.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao reviewed the situation arising out of a section of striking FPS dealers not making payments for drawl of commodities for December with Civil Supplies Minister Eatala Rajender and Civil Supplies Commissioner C.V. Anand here on Thursday.
The officials explained to the Chief Minister that 7,000 out of about 14,000 dealersfrom 25 districts had already made the payments through demand drafts for drawl of commodities for supply to the poor during December. The remaining dealers, however, had not made any payments demanding increase in commission and provision of health cards. Supply of commodities in December was not possible for the households linked to those FP shops.
The Chief Minister directed the officials to supply commodities by making alternative arrangements and ensure that the BPL households were not denied the benefit for December.
To ensure that the beneficiaries were not left half hungry, the government was supplying 6 kg rice per head every month at ₹ 1 a kg by bearing huge expenditure. It was unfortunate that the FPS dealers were trying to put the poor people to hardship by making unjust demands and the government had decided to act tough in such a situation, the Chief Minister made it clear.
