9K CARD HOLDERS

PDS shops denying, ration, promised dole: Perumbakkam locals

Ramesh.R@timesgroup.com

Chennai:04.04.2020

Chaos prevailed at the tenements of the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) in Perumbakkam on Friday after fair price shops in the locality refused to provide the entitled free ration for family card holders.

K Malar, a resident, said the fair price shop failed to distribute 5kg of wheat. “We received only 15kg of rice but wheat was not provided on Friday. However, we got a SMS stating that all the ration, including wheat, was issued to our family card,” she said. The homemaker said the ration was essential as her husband, a mason by profession, couldn’t take up jobs due to the lockdown to fight Covid-19. This is, however, not the first time such an issue has cropped up, Malar said. “This has been the case at this particular fair price shop for several months now. We cannot understand why the employees refuse us the promised ration when the government has ensured adequate stock, especially during such crisis.”

The civil supplies and consumer protection department kick-started the distribution of free ration — 15kg of rice, 5kg of wheat, 2kg of sugar, 1kg of tur dal, 1L of palmolein oil for April, besides a dole of ₹1,000 for every family card holder, as assistance during the lockdown. The TNSCB blocks at Perumbakkam has six fair price shops with each shop accounting for about 1,500 family card holders.

Muthukrishnan, another resident of Perumbakkam, complained that employees of fair price shops are compelling cardholders to buy things such as soap and tea packets, costing anywhere between ₹60 and ₹100, while distributing the dole of ₹1,000. Only if the commodities are bought are the cardholders given the dole, Muthukrishnan added — a complaint made by many residents of the tenement.

When contacted, official sources with Sholinganallur zone of civil supplies and consumer protection department said staff have been directed to distribute the entire free ration to beneficiaries. “We have not received any complaint but we will follow it up,” an official said.