Civil Supplies In Bangaru Telangana   

The Civil Supplies activities in Telangana have been diversified to include procurement of food grains under Minimum Support Price (MSP) , distribution of essential commodities viz. Rice, Wheat, Sugar, Kerosene, Palmolien Oil and Red gram dal through Fair Price Shops under the Public Distribution System at subsidized rates through issue of computerized cards, consumer affairs, monitoring of prices of essential commodities, distribution of LPG connections to BPL women (Deepam Scheme), Enrollment under UID (Aadhaar) etc.,

Functions of Commissioner of Civil Supplies & Ex-Officio Secretary .

Formulates Policies for procurement of paddy , coarse grains and pulses at MSP by agencies like FCI., Telangana State Civil Supplies Corporation, Markfed, IKP groups etc. Decentralised procurement and distribution of essential commodities through Public Distribution System.

Evolves policy for issue of ration cards, allotment of Deepam connections to the eligible families.Oversees all matters connected with the allotment, lifting, movement and supply of essential commodities by the Telangana State Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd.

Monitoring of prices of essential commodities and Market Intervention Operations for controlling the open market prices, if need arises.Organises enrollment of people under Aadhaar as Registrar in the State for Aadhaar Project.

Implements Consumer Protection Act through State Commission and District Consumer Fora and other Consumer welfare Schemes.

Arranges Consumer awareness through Consumer Clubs, Consumer Voluntary Organisations, Seminars, workshops and World and National Consumer Rights Days every year.

Processes the recommendations of the Selection Committee for the Members of the State Commission and President and Members of the Dist.Fora and issues Govt. orders.

Implements the Packaged Commodities Rules and MRP and ensuring correct measures and weights through verification and stamping by Legal Metrology Department.

Executes the enforcement activity under various Control Orders issud under Essential Commodities Act, 1955 for checking against hoarding, black marketing, diversions etc.of essential commodities like food grains, pulses, edible oils, Petroleum Products viz. Kerosene, Diesel, LPG, Petrol etc. and action under Section 6 A of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 .

As convener arranges the meetings of the Price Monitoring Committee under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary and the Group of Ministers periodically .

Takes measures to ensure that the Departments concerned with various essential commodities take action to undertake Market Intervention purchases wherever necessary to make them available to the consumers at affordable prices in the open market.

Schemes
Food Security Cards
Consequent to bifurcation and formation of Telangana State, the Beneficiaries were identified for issue of Food Security Cards covering all priority groups with an objective to provide subsidized food grains and other Essential Commodities to the Eligible households under implementation of the National Food Security Act,2013.

The income limit for the eligibility of the BPL families (priority households) has been increased for rural areas to Rs.1.50 lakhs and to Rs.2 lakhs in urban areas.The ceiling on holding of land has also been increased to 3.5 acres of wet land and 7.5 acres of dry land However it was specified that income on land will be taken as criteria for issue of BPL cards.

Aadhaar Seeding
The entire data of all the persons identified for Food Security Cards has been digitized, seeded with Aadhaar numbers,Aadhaar authenticated and maintained in Public Domain .

The seeding of Aadhar through ePDS is helping the department to remove duplicates and cards in the name of non-existing/dead/migrated persons.The National Informatics Center has also provided security measures to keep the information strictly and confidentially.

FP Shop Automation with ePOS Devices
Under FP Shop automation, epos devices were introduced in 45 FP shops in Hyderabad on a pilot basis during 2012-13. This restricted the possibility of anybody going to the fair price shop and drawing ration on production of card.

The biometrics(finger prints of the members of the ration card) were to be captured at the time of drawal of ration and once they were matched ration were delivered to them since the ePoS with Aadhaar based boimetry,other than the member of the family attempts to draw rations, the device won't accept the finger prints and reject delivery of stocks.

ePoS Implementation is not only providing ration to the genuine beneficiaries but also resulting in saving of essential commodities both in quantity and resultant subsidy to the Government.With ePoS, a minimum average saving of about 14% of rice and other essential commodities and the resultant subsidy of both the Govt. of India and the State Goverment could be achived.

The ePoS project in 45 FP Shops in Hyderabad becam de-functional and due to which it was again introduced in 18 FP shops of the above shops on pilot through TS Online.

The State has been implementing the NFSA,2013 from October,2015 onwards and under it implementation , the FP Shop Automation is also a condition required to be fulfilled , the Government has decided to roll out ePoS intitially in 1545 FP shops in GHMC area and to roll out in the entire state by March,2015.Accodingly,the selection of System integrator Agency for rolling out ePoS in 1545 FP shops in GHMC area has been completed. Work order has been issued. Training to the FP shop ndealers also given and devices handed over to the dealers. The ePoS implementation will be commenced shortly.

End-to-End Computerisation of Targeted Public Distribution System:
Under End to End Computerisation of Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), NIC has developed the required "ePDS" software under End to End Computerisation of TPDS which is an online software application that helps the Civil Supplies Department in allocating Essential commodities to FP shops, digitize the ration card data, seeding the rationcard databse with Aadhaar so as to eliminate bogus / dead migrated / duplicate cards / units or ineligible persons and also to carry out mutations received from the beneficiaries through Mee Seva.

In Telangana State all the 10 districts are under the cover of ePDS which has become the main source of information pertaining to Fair Pirce Shops, particulars of the Card holders, Aadhaar particulars and usefull in the generation of Dynamic Key register, Online allocation of essential commodities to the Districts by the commissioner of Civil Supplies, from the districts to the Mandals / circles by the DSOs and from there to the FP shops by the Tahsildars / ASOs. The remittances towards the cost of commodities by FP Shop dealers through Mee Seva / eSeva centres, generation of online release Orders for release of stocks to the FP Shop dealers has also being implemented under end to end computerisation.

Under Supply Chain Management, the movement of essential commodities from FCI godowns / buffer godowns to MLS points and from MLS points total doorstep of FP Shops is being done. The closing balances of Essential commodities are uploaded in the ePDS website which is also being closely monitored and basing on the CBs, the online allocation is being made.

The requests of cardholders through Mee Seva for different mutation services also are now done in ePDS. This is helping the chances of getting reflected in database immediately after approval by the concerned ASO / Tahsildar.

ePDS also has a provision for making available the reports in public domain such as Master Key Register, Dynamic Key Register, Card Postition details, FP Shop-wise Card position, allotment Particulars, Kerosene Oil DKR etc. which will bring more transparency. By implementing the ePDS, all the activities of the Deparmtment are decentralized and the card holders will have the provision to search their ration card application status and may approach the concerned ASO / Tahsildar's office to get the ration cards or get their grievances redressed. ePDs will enable the Department to ensure that the field level functionaries are more accountable with which the department could bring more transparency in Public Distribution System.

Petroleum Products
The Petroleum products like diesel, petrol etc plays an improtant role in the day to day life. They have become so valuable and costly for which the common man feels to have them with smooth supply. The Consumer Affairs, Food and Civil Supplies plays an important role in making them available to the public without any deviations and diversions and adulteration.

To ensure equitable distribution of the petroleum products at reasonable prices to the consumers without diversion to black market, State Government have issued the Telangana Petroleum Products (Licensing and Regulations of Supplies) Order, 1980 and also administering the Control Orders issued by Government of India under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.

Dealers in petroleum products i.e., petrol, diesel, SKO, LPG, Auto LPG etc., are selected by the Oil companies following the norms issued by Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India, the selected dealers have to obtain licence under the provisions of the Telangana Petroleum Products (Licensing and Regulations of Supplies) Order, 1980 to deal in the petroleum products in Telangana, from the Collector (CS) of the concerned district and the Chief Rationing Officer in respect of Hyderabad. The State Government have issued the Telangana Petroleum Products (Licensing and Regulations of Supplies) Order, 1980 to ensure equitable distribution of the petroleum products at reasonable prices to the consumers without diversion to black market and also administering the Control Orders issued by Government of India under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.

Msp Operations of Paddy and Procurement of Rice
Objective:
The main objective of the MSP operations is to provide remunerative price to the farmers. Government of Telangana has been implementing the M.S.P. operations for the purchase of paddy, maize and other coarsegrains and pulses. The Government have taken timely and prompt action by opening of required number of paddy / maize purchase centres in the districts by the Collector(CS) concerned.

Commodities covered under MSP operations:
Paddy
Maize
Jowar
Bajra
Ragi and
Pulses

MSP rates fixed by the Government of India for 2015-16 .
Uniform Specifications of Paddy, Maize, Bajra, Jowar, Ragi and Rice for the KMS 2015-16 are as follows:
Paddy will be classified into Grade 'A' and Common groups.

Schedule of specification
As there is no statutory levy for procurement of paddy, to ensure remunerative price for the paddy, Government have undertaken a pro-active and massive MSP operations for paddy. The main instrument to ensure remunerative price to the paddy farmers, is procurement of rice through State Civil Supplies Corporation. The second instrument is to effectively intervene in procurement of paddy through State Agencies.

Guidelines for MSP
•The farmers before bringing the paddy and coarse grains to the PPCs / Market Yards / have to dry their produce exposed to the sun so that the moisture content will be reduced and there will not any problem at the PPCs for purchase.

•To segregate the foreign matter from the paddy, coarse grains etc so that the farmers will get remunerative price for their produce.

Role of District Administration in brief:
Collector shall be the overall in charge for ensuring MSP operations assisted by the DSO at the district level and RDO at the divisional level.
A control room shall be opened at the Collectorate. The DSO shall get the information from time to time and transmit to the Joint Collector, Collector and Commissioner of Civil Supplies through on line facility.

The District Level Committee with Joint Collector as Chairman, Joint Director, Agriculture, District Supply Officer, Dist. Manager, Civil Supplies Corporation, Dy. Director / Assistant Director, Marketing shall review the arrangements from time to time to ensure MSP for paddy arriving in the markets, Paddy Purchase Centres set up by the Government and notified mill purchase points.

The Dist. Collector shall identify and notify various markets over and above the existing market yards within his/her district jurisdiction and inform to the farmers, traders and millers about the procurement of paddy of FAQ under MSP.

A Grievance Redressal Cell shall be opened in the MRO’s Office. The complaints received shall be registered properly. They shall be got enquired into by the supervisory teams having jurisdiction over the area on priority. The result of enquiry should be recorded in the register. The complainant should be informed of the result of enquiry. This shall also be made available to the senior officers to enable them to cross check during their visits.

G.Rajendera Kumar