Minister Prathipati Pulla Rao for 90 per cent satisfaction among ration shop customers

Vijayawada: Civil supplies minister Prathipati Pulla Rao on Wednesday said the state government is contemplating to supply finger millets and jowar instead of rice to white ration cardholders if the beneficiaries demand it.

He made this statement when some ration dealers raised the issue and suggested that finger millets and jowar were good for people suffering from diabetes. They asked the minister to consider the request of beneficiaries.

Prathipati Pulla Rao addressed the ration dealers of Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, Nellore and West Godavari districts at the Tummalapalli Kalakshetram here on Wednesday.

Several hundred ration shop dealers, whose satisfaction levels are less than 60 per cent, were asked to attend the meeting in Vijayawada. The minister personally interacted with some ration dealers and inquired about the delivery system, payment of commission and other technical problems they were facing. Some ration dealers pointed out that many beneficiaries were asking them for distribution of finger millets and jowar instead of rice.

Responding to it, the minister said the government is contemplating to distribute jowar and finger millets instead of rice if they insisted for it. He assured the dealers that commission for sugar would be increased to Rs 1 soon. Pulla Rao said he convened the meeting with the dealers in Vijayawada to personally get feedback from them on functioning of ration depots in their respective districts.

Stating that the government is supplying ration to 1.40 crore cardholders in the state and getting feedback on quality of service, he said ration dealers, whose satisfaction levels were below 60 per cent, were asked to attend the meeting.

He said the next meeting would be organised in Visakhapatnam for the dealers of north coastal districts of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam and East Godavari on August 4. He said the government is conducting survey and getting feedback from 15 lakh consumers every month and trying to resolve the technical problems arising in distribution of essential items.

He said satisfaction levels were measured based on the opening and closure of fair price shops, giving receipts, conversation with consumers, quality and quantity of materials and distribution.

He said the satisfaction level was 74.5 per cent in June and it was increased to 77 per cent in July. The minister said if the satisfaction levels were increased to 90 per cent, the government would also increase the commission based on it. He reminded the commission on Chandranna Kanuka to dealers was increased from Rs 5 to Rs 10.

Civil supplies managing director A Surya Kumari said the government had identified the loopholes at mandal stock level points and would rectify them soon. She asked the ration dealers to give information to government on food habits of local people and their demands so that the government would fulfil their needs. Zonal managers and district civil supply officers from five districts attended the meeting.