New Delhi: A Parliamentary panel has recommended streamlining the functioning of helpline numbers to address grievances of PDS beneficiaries and installation of CCTV cameras at ration shops to monitor distribution and diversion.
The Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, headed by TMC member Sudip Bandyopadhyay, has also recommended that the government should make independent surprise visits and inspections at ration shops, also called fair price shops (FPSs). "...despite their being joint inspection of foodgrains stock in FCI godowns and presence of Quality Control Cells (QCCs) in the Department of Food and Public Distribution, there are so many complaints of beneficiaries getting inferior quality of foodgrains," the committee said in a report tabled in Lok Sabha on July 19.
This could be the handiwork of some intermediaries which leads to diversion of good quality foodgrains and making the poor people getting inferior quality of foodgrains, it said. Sometimes, beneficiaries cannot communicate their grievances to the agencies concerned, it added. The Committee observed that the 24 X 7 toll-free grievance redressal at telephone numbers 1967 and 1800 set up in different states are not helpful in solving day-to-day problems being faced by the beneficiaries.