Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PDS Report of Haryana
PDS Report of Haryana
ON
REPORT
ON
STATE OF HARYANA
INDEX
Chapters Topics Page no.
A Preface 1-9
B Broad Overview i- xiv
1 Introduction 1-2
2 Legal Regime 3-17
3 Distribution of Foodgrain 18-31
4 Mode of Appointment of Dealers 32-39
5 Viability 40-48
6 Identification of BPL Beneficiaries 49-54
7 Computerisation 55-59
8 Enforcement, Vigilance and 60-64
Complaint Mechanism
9 Distribution of wheat flour/atta to 65-70
PDS beneficiaries
10 Recommendations 71-80
11 Appendix 81-83
PREFACE
2. Hon’ble Court’s direction was initially given for the Government of Delhi to
be followed on an all India basis.
5. Scope of the task assigned to the Committee thus having been enlarged,
the Committee projected to the Department of Food & Public Distribution,
additional requirements of staff, space and delegation of financial powers
for its smooth functioning. The Department dilly dallied and did not meet
the requirements. The Committee had to approach the Hon’ble Court again
and again. It was only after a peremptory Order dated 25.8.2008 was
passed by the Hon’ble Court that the Department started taking steps for
creating necessary infrastructure. It was only thereafter that the
Committee could start functioning in right earnest. The Hon’ble Court
extended the time for submitting the report till April 2009.
8. PDS is undoubtedly the largest food distribution network of the kind in the
world. While procurement, storage in FCI godowns and allocation of food
grain to the states is in the hands of the Central Government, distribution
is done through the Fair Price Shops licensed by the State after identifying
BPL and AAY population as per the estimation fixed by the Planning
Commission.
9. No one has doubted the utility of PDS being the need for supply of food
grains to the poor of the country at affordable rates. Procurement and
distribution of food grains is a huge and gigantic task but the whole system
is built on corruption. There are more leakages and maladministration and
benefits to the poor are low. Inefficiency and corruption has made PDS
corrupt at several levels (during the course of the visit of the Committee to
various places it was found that an equal and perhaps more corruption is
present in the distribution of kerosene oil). The system lacks transparency,
accountability, monitoring and enforcement. Survey is not being
conducted regularly and properly, with the result that people Above
Poverty Line (APL) have been issued Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards and
those eligible for BPL cards have been ignored.
10. There is also a menace of bogus cards. Immediate measures are required
to reduce diversion of food grains. Delivery systems under the PDS have
to be improved so that the actual beneficiary gets its due entitlement at
fixed price, fixed quantity, fixed time and of wholesome quality. Innovative
methods are required to improve the system. The whole system has to be
totally revamped and modern technology appears to be the only answer.
Rather it is a matter of deep regret that in a surplus State of wheat like
Haryana there is large scale of diversion of PDS food grains meant for the
poor.
17. During its visit to the State of Haryana, Committee visited State capital
Chandigarh, eight districts – Ambala, Kurukshetra, Rohtak, Faridabad,
Mewat, Palwal, Bhiwani and Hissar. Apart from meeting officials of the
State, FCI, State agencies, the Committee met a cross section of people.
These included NGOs, FPS owners, transporters and beneficiaries. The
Committee also inspected FPSs, wholesale godowns, godowns of State
agencies and FCI. Committee also visited offices of the Department of
Food & Civil Supplies in some of the districts. The Committee got full
cooperation from the officers of the State Government, State agencies
involved in the procurement and distribution, CONFED (the authorized
wholesaler in the state) and FCI.
19. Participants in the meetings with the officers at various places are as
under:-
Chandigarh –Mr. Dharamvir, Chief Secretary, Haryana; Mr. L.S.M. Salins,
Principal Secretary (Food & Supplies Department); Mr. Avtar Singh,
Commissioner, Food & Civil Supplies & CMD, CONFED; Mr. A.R. Godara,
Addl. Director Food & Sup0p-lies and Mr. Arun Gupta, General Manager,
Food Corporation of India.
Ambala - Mr. Samir Pal Sarow, Dy. Commissioner, Mr. Y. Puran Kumar,
S.P.; Mr. G.P. Sikri, DFSC; Mr. Surinder Arora, AFSO; Mr. Brham Pal
Rana, Chairman, Zial Parishad; Karnail Singh, Distt. Manager, CONFED;
Mr. Vinod Kumar, DM(B), CONFED, Chandigarh and Mr. Sandip Singal,
D.M, FCI, Karnal.
Rohtak – Mr. P.C. Meena, Dy. Commissioner; Mr. A.S. Mann, A.D.C.; Mr.
A.R. Godara, A.D.F.S.,CMD; Mr. Vinod Kumar, G.M. CONFED,
Chandigarh; Mr. Parmodh Sharma, D.F.S.C.; Mr. D.K. Singla,D.M.
CONFED; Mr. K.C. Garg, D.M.,FCI; Mr. Harbans Lal, Manager
Procurement,FCI and Mr. Mahavir Sharma, Asstt. Registrar,G.M Coop.
Store.
Faridabad – Mr. Barjinder Singh, Dy. Commissioner; Mr. Pushpender
Singh Chauhan, SDM; Mr. A.R. Godara, Addl. DFC, Chandigarh; Mr.
Vinod Kumar, GM, CONFED; Mr. Ram Avtar, DFSC; Mr. Anil Malik, DM,
CONFED, Faridabad and Mr. K.K. Barua, Area Manager, FCI.
Mewat (Nuh) – Mr. Mehtab Singh, Dy. Commissioner; Mr. S.S. Dalal,
Addl. Dy. Commissioner; Mr. Atul Dwivedi, SDM; Mr. Inder Pal B ishnoi,
SDM; Mr. K.K. Goyal, DFSC and Mr. Ashwani K. Gaur, Dy. Director.
Palwal – Mr. M.K. Mahajan, Dy. Commissioner; Mr. Ram Niwas, DSFC;
Mr. Shankar Lal Gupta, AFSO; Mr. Amrik Singh, DSP and Mr. R.D. Mehra,
Distt. Manager, CONFED.
Bhiwani – Mr. Vikas Gupta, Dy. Commissioner; Mr. R.C. Bidhan, ADC; Mr.
Azad Singh, DFSC; Mr. A.K. Goel, Dy.DF&SS(HR),Ch.D; Mr. Kamal Singh
DPRO; Mr. K.K. Varsmnei, DPO & ADC; Mr. Dharam Pal Singh,
Manager(D),FCI; Mr. L.R. Jain, Area Manager,FCI, Hissar; Mr. Subhash
Singh , Distt. Manager, HAFED and Mr. T.K. Mittal, D.M., CONFED.
Hissar – Mr. O.P. Sheoran, Dy. Commissioner; Mr. Amardeep Jain, SDM;
Mr. D.P. Singh, City Magistrate; Mr. Pankaj Nain, ASP; Mr. Dharmvir
Goyat, Distt. Food & Supply Controller; Mr. D.C. Sharma; DFSO; Mr.
Subhas Sihed, Asstt. Food & Supply Officer; Mr. S.S. Bishn oi, Distt.
Manager, CONFED; Mr. B.S. Bhati, Area Manager, FCI; Mr. Jaivir Singh,
Asstt. Controller Legal Meteorology and Mr. Jaipal Singh, Inspector, Legal,
Meteorology.
20. Members of the Committee who visited the State are Ms. Meenakshi
Chauhan, Ms. Naomi Chandra and Mr. Shohit Chaudhry (being members
of Legal Team), Mr. K.K. Mittal, Director and Mr. J.K. Bhutani, Section
Officer. Mr. S.C. Rawal, a former Registrar of Delhi High Court and
appointed as Secretary by the Chairman, has been performing functions
of the Secretary of the Committee. Dr. N.C. Saxena, however, could not
offer any assistance to the Committee perhaps due to his other
engagements.
21. The Committee is submitting its report which has been divided into various
Chapters like distribution of food grain, appointment of FPS dealers,
viability, identification of BPL, wheat flour (atta), coupon system, diversion
of foodgrains, vigilance, enforcement & complaint mechanism and
computerization . Overview has been given of the PDS in the State and
recommendations made. An attempt has been made to make each
Chapter self-contained and there is possibly a repetition at various places.
Delhi
1. There are 21 districts in the State of Haryana. There are 9570 (2751
Urban and 6819 Rural) Fair Price Shops (FPS) catering to 54,32,815 ration
cards. The population of the State of Haryana as per 2007 census was
2.39 Crores and the projected population as on 31.10.2008 was 2.44
Crores. As per the Planning Commission there are 7.29 lakh families living
below the poverty line in the State. However, the survey revealed that
there are about 11.97 lakh (BPL + AAY) families below poverty line. The
State of Haryana is a wheat surplus State.
2. The Central Vigilance Committee visited the State of Haryana from 5th -
12th, August, 2009 and 29th November to 1st December, 2009. The
Committee during the visit met the officials of the State Government in
Chandigarh and discussed various issues concerning PDS in the State.
The Committee also studied of the functioning of the Public Distribution
System in the following districts of the State- Ambala, Kurukshetra,
Rohtak, Faridabad, Mewat, Palwal, Bhiwani and Hissar. The Committee
interacted with the State Government officials, District officials, Officials of
FCI, CONFED, Consumers, FPS dealers, NGOs, Self Help Groups,
Consumer Organizations and Media etc., to assess the working of the PDS
in the State. The Committee found that Public Distribution System in the
State has failed miserably. There is a large scale diversion from wholesale
distribution to retail distribution.
5. On the basis of the observations and findings the Committee has made
some recommendations in the report which are enumerated in separate
chapters. The Committee has analyzed various aspects affecting PDS in
the State in different Chapters which are as under:-
6.2 The State agency CONFED is responsible to lift the foodgrain from the
procuring agencies and to deliver the same at the doorstep of the Fair
Price shops. The CONFED does not have its own trucks and it appoints
transporters through Tender process. The transporters appointed through
tender process usually do not have sufficient trucks and usually they have
one or two trucks of their own and rest of the trucks is hired by them.
The Committee observed that the transporters quote less than the actual
rates to get the Contract. This clearly gives inference that they recoup the
losses by diverting the foodgrain.
6.3 For Instance in Mewat District, On 6th March 09 tender was issued and 6
applications were received. The transporter named Hamida was appointed
and his rates for transportation of grain were
Within District – 6.90 per quintal
Out of District- 11.50 per quintal
6.4 The rates of transportation in the previous year were Rs. 13 per quintal
for within district and out of district 20.50 per quintal. It is pertinent to
mention that the rates for the previous year was double the rates of the
current year. The transporter himself quoted such low prices and later in
August he refused to Continue as transporter even at the cost of forfeiting
his security amount.
6.7 The Department officials are duty bound to check whether the foodgrain
have reached the fair price shop or not. The department has to certify
that the 100 % foodgrain has been delivered by the transporter and give
the same to the CONFED before the bills pertaining to same is cleared.
However, the Committee observed that the department officials are not
checking the delivery of the foodgrain by CONFED appointed transporters
at the fair price shops. This clearly indicates the connivance of CONFED
officers, department officials and the transporters. Strict Penal actions
should be taken against officers and transporters if found guilty of
diversion of foodgrain.
6.8 The Committee observed that the shops are not opened for distribution of
food grains and other items through out the month. It was also observed
that the time schedule adopted by the Department for distribution is not
proper. The time schedule for deposit of the money by the FPS dealers,
issuing of release orders, lifting from the State agencies by CONFED and
distribution by CONFED to the FPS dealers has been fixed in such a way
that the actual duration for distribution for the FPS dealer is only 10-15
days. This is in violation of the direction of Hon‟ble Supreme Court.
6.10 In the State of Haryana there large number of labours from different
States keep migrating in search of work. The Committee feels that there
should be some provision of food security for the migrant labour who
come in search of job or work from their native places temporarily. They
could be registered as temporary residents and provision should be made
for providing PDS food grains etc. to them also.
6.11 The Committee during the visit to the State came across many cases of
damaged/ rotten foodgrain supplied to the consumers under PDS. It was
informed by the District Officials that generally the quality is proper
however at some places the grain is damaged because of the non-
availability of storage space with the procurement agencies in Haryana.
They have to store the foodgrains sometimes in the open. The Committee
feels that State Government must take immediate steps for creating
storage space so that the foodgrains is not damaged and the proper
quality is available to the consumer though PDS.
8.2 The Haryana PDS control Order 2009 of the State provides that Licensing
authority shall call for applications through local publicity and munadi in
the local area of the Fair Price Shop. A committee comprising District Food
and Supplies Controller, Inspector Food and Supplies concerned and the
Sarpanch of village in rural area and District Food and Supplies Controller,
Inspector Food and Supplies concerned and Municipal Councilor in urban
area shall recommend to the licensing authority the name of the eligible
applicant as per these priorities/ preference. However, it was observed by
the Committee that the procedure of appointment of FPS dealer is vice –
versa. The persons having political links first get recommendations from
the Sarpanch or Municipal councilor and apply for the licence. The
department on obtaining the applications publicize the vacancy through
munadi which is mere formality. Such persons are given time to show list
of 600 families and on submission of the list he is given lincence. It is only
on the basis of the resolution of Panchayat, the FPS dealership is given. It
was also seen that in practice recommendations of local politicians, MLAs,
Municipal Councilors, Sarpanch and other influential people are the only
qualification for getting FPS licences. Other conditions as prescribed in
the Haryana State Control Order of 2002 and latest order of 2009 are not
followed while granting the FPS dealership. No vacancy is advertised.
8.3 The provisions of the Haryana Control Order 2009 recognizes and gives
legitimacy to political interference in appointment of dealers by making
the Sarpanch and the Municipal Councilor as members of the rural/urban
committees appointed for recommending the applicants for allotment of
licences for Fair Price Shops. The Committee is of the view that political
involvement in the grant of licences has to be completely eliminated.
8.4 Clause 2(h) Provides the eligibility condition for the applicant. Provides
that a person having 10+2 or its equivalent qualification, not less than
21 years of age and is a resident of the locality for which the fair price
shop license in applied for. However, in case of a Group like Self Help
Group and Sakshar Mahila Samooh, the condition of 10+2 pass and age
will not apply; The Order provides for preference to unemployed
graduates while granting FPS licence. The Committee is of the view that
as the FPS is not a viable unit giving preference to unemployed graduates
serves no purpose. As the income of FPS dealer is not much they indulge
in malpractices to make profits.
9.1 During the visit to the State the Committee visited number of shops in
various Districts. The Committee feels that stand alone FPS is not
profitable. There was a general demand to increase the commission of
the FPS, at some places there was also a demand from FPS dealers that a
fixed salary may be given to them for running the FPS.
9.2 The Committee is of the view that since any amount of increase in
commission would not make an FPS viable, it is, therefore, necessary that
FPS dealers should sell grocery items along with PDS items. The condition
should be that in the Grocery / Kirana shop, the sale should only be non
PDS commodities. The Committee feels that the condition should be put
in the licence that FPS owner must have a running Kirana / Grocery shop.
In case of default or non compliance with the condition, the FPS licence
should be revoked.
10.2 The rate, at which action is taken against the errant FPS dealers and
errant officials, is abysmally low. Thus there is no effective deterrent to
stop malpractice in PDS. It is necessary that there should be special
squads for enforcement of PDS. The squads should be responsible for
conducting raids, surprise checks, conducting prosecutions,
recommending Departmental action against the officials and taking action
against the defaulting officer under the Haryana PDS Control Order 2009,
Essential Commodities Act 1955, Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and
Indian Penal Code. The Haryana PDS control Order 2009 provides that if
any Licencee contravenes any of the terms or conditions of the license or
of any control order issued under the Act the licence shall be suspended
immediately without giving any notice. The licensing authority shall take
strict action which included forfeiture of the security deposit in full and
suspension of licence; cancellation of the license and forfeiture of the
security deposit in full; or registration of criminal case as per provisions of
the Act. However, it was observed that no action is taken by the officials
against errant FPS dealers. PDS operation should be based on the
principle of zero tolerance. Any infraction of the Rules and Regulations or
Instructions should invite strict action not only against the FPS owner but
also the concerned officials.
10.3 The Committee found that most of the FPS dealers do not have proper
weights and mostly the certificates are obtained without actually checking
the weighing machines. The officials of the Legal Metrology department
should also be made accountable for any act of omission or commission in
fulfilling their duties.
10.4 The State should set up Vigilance Committees at the State and District
levels also to keep an eye on the Public Distribution System. Date, Place
and time for the meeting of the committees should be fixed in advance.
Vigilance Committees at various levels be strengthened by including the
NGOs, Self Help Group, Consumer Organisations and the educated youth
in the Vigilance Committee at various levels. The meetings of the Vigilance
Committees must be convened regularly.
10.5 The Village/ FPS level committee should also meet regularly every month.
Minutes of the meetings of the vigilance committees should be recorded.
Follow up action should be reviewed in the next meeting.
10.6 There is no effective and systematic complaint redressal mechanism for
the common people. In the absence of a customized complaint redressal
system, most of the grievances of the common man go unheard and
unattended, encouraging the corrupt practices by the dealers and the
officials. It is recommended that an effective complaint redressal system
for PDS related grievances be initiated wherein the beneficiaries may
register and also follow up their complaints.
10.7 State should set up a 24 hours toll free helpline where a beneficiary can
lodge his complaint. The toll free number should be printed or stamped on
the Ration Card. There should be a system of the follow up of the
complaint. A post of Ombudsman/Regulator should be created for PDS.
The Ombudsman/Regulator should look into complaints including the
complaints received through the helpline and take appropriate action
against the defaulting licencees and the officials concerned.
11 Indentification of Beneficiaries
11.1 During the visit to the State there was a general complaint that the
deserving people are not having the ration cards and those who are well
to do and prosperous are included the BPL category. There are large
scale exclusion and inclusion errors in the survey done for identification of
BPL families. Committee feels that to make the PDS purposeful it is most
essential that survey should be done by an independent agency which can
work without any political interference and the survey is conducted
without any fear and favour. The Committee feels that Registrar General
of India may be entrusted this work of identification since they have
necessary experience in such work and also be perceived as a neutral
agency.
11.2 The Committee also feels that the State Government should have
periodical checking of ration cards and there should be continuous process
to weed out bogus cards as provided in para 2 of the Annexure to the
Public Distribution System (Control) Order, 2001. It is also suggested that
a list of the BPL families should be displayed at the FPS.
11.3 The committee was informed that the correct figures have not been
collected during the 2004 BPL survey due to which there was
discontentment amongst the public. Hence the survey was cancelled and
a fresh survey was ordered. The fresh survey was entrusted to Ex-
servicemen. This survey was completed in 2007.
11.4 As per the Planning Commission there are 7.29 lakh families living below
the poverty line in the State. However, the survey revealed that there are
about 11.97 lakh (BPL + AAY) families below poverty line. Since the
number of BPL families found in the survey was more than the estimates
of the Planning Commission, the State decided in year 2008 to treat 3.83
lakh families as “State BPL”. The BPL cards issued within the limits
prescribed by the Planning Commission are named as “ Central BPL”. By
an order dated 04.09.2008 it was decided that the State will collect the
APL and BPL allocation and distribute it amongst the Central BPL and
State BPL equally at 35Kg.per month per ration card. The difference in
cost between the APL wheat and State BPL wheat will be borne by the
State. The quota of the BPL has since been reduced to 33 Kg. per family
per month. BPL card holders are given wheat @ Rs.4.84 per Kg. AAY
families are being distributed 35Kg. wheat per month @ Rs.2.10 per Kg.
The Committee during the visit to the State observed that ration card is
not only used as identity card but is required for availing benefits under
various schemes of the Government. This is in violation of the provisions
of Public Distribution System (Control) Order, 2001 issued by the Central
Government. The Committee feels that ration card should be de-linked
from all other schemes and steps should be taken to ensure that it is not
used as an identity card.
13.2 To create awareness among the people it must be ensured by the District
administration that a press release is issued at the beginning of the month
indicating the quantity issued to be FPSs, entitlement of various categories
of the beneficiaries, rates of the commodities to be charged by the FPS
dealer so that people can know their rights and entitlements. To further
enlighten the peoples of their rights and entitlements, pamphlets, posters
must be published and widely circulated. Local TV channels may also be
requested to show all these above mentioned details on their scrolls to
create awareness among the people.
13.3 A Public hearing for PDS on the lines of the Lok Adalat ( Electricity/
telephone/ water) must be convened at a designated place, time and day
every 2/3 months where general public can seek to resolve outstanding
issues pertaining to the PDS. These may include those relating to their
category / entitlements, non-issuance of the cards, bifurcation of cards,
wrong inclusion of APL, complaints regarding under-weighment etc. PDS
Lok Adalat so constituted should be presided over by District Judge or a
Judicial Officer nominated by him not less than the rank of Additional
Judge and should include the Collector of the District and the District Food
and Supply Controller. A system of accountability must be put in place to
ensure the implementation of decisions taken during these hearings.
14 Computerisation:-
The Committee during the visit to the State observed that the
computerization process has been started. It was informed that the first
phase of computerization has been completed in most of the districts and the
second phase is being implemented in 7 districts. The Committee feels that
end to end computerization is essential for improving the Public Distribution
System. The Committee has already submitted a detailed report on
computerization to Hon‟ble Supreme Court for improving the functioning of
PDS. State Government should take up the computerization of PDS on the
lines as suggested by the Committee in its report.
**************
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
3. The population of the State of Haryana as per 2007 census was 2.39
Crores and the projected population as on 31.10.2008 was 2.44 Crores.
There are 21 districts in the State with 6955 villages out of which 6764
villages are inhabited. There are 9570 (2751 Urban and 6819 Rural) Fair
Price Shops (FPS) catering to 54,32,815 ration cards.
4. As per the Planning Commission there are 7.29 lakh families living below
the poverty line in the State. However, the survey revealed that there are
about 11.97 lakh (BPL + AAY) families below poverty line.
7. The State of Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh have been
selected for the pilot projects on computerisation of the Public Distribution
System. The Committee invited the team of officers from the State
responsible for the pilot project along with the representative of
Expedien_E-Solutions who gave a presentation of the proposed system.
The Committee obtained a copy of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) and
visited the PR Center at Ambala where the work on the computerisation
project is in progress.
CHAPTER 2
LEGAL
REGIME
ii. Stringent provisions exist in the Act and the Control Order, to deal with
any infringement of the provisions of the Act or the Order.
iii. Section 7 provides for penalties. Any person contravening the Order is
liable to be sentenced to imprisonment, which may extend upto 7 years
and shall also be liable to fine. Sentence of imprisonment cannot be less
than 3 months unless there are adequate and special reasons. The
property in respect of which contravention of the Order has taken place, is
liable to be forfeited to the Government and so also any vehicle used in
carrying such commodity. If a person commits offence a second time
then imprisonment cannot be less than 6 months subject to, adequate
and special reasons.
viii. Section 10C provides that Court may presume the existence of such
mental state where an offence under the Act requires culpable mental
state on the part of the accused. “Culpable mental state” includes
intention, motive, knowledge or reason to believe a fact.
ix. Under Section 11, a Court can take cognizance of an offence under the
Act not only on a complaint made by a public servant but also by any
person aggrieved or any recognized consumer organization.
2.2 The Public Distribution System (Control) Order, 2001 : The Public
Distribution System (Control) Order, 2001 (hereinafter referred to as the
„PDS Order 2001‟) has been issued by the Central Government in exercise
of powers conferred by Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955
for maintaining supplies and securing availability and distribution of
essential commodities under the Public Distribution System. The said
Order has been amended in 2004.
2.5 As per instructions dated 7.4.2005 joint samples ought to be taken at the
time of lifting the grain from the godown by a committee comprising of
the District Food and Supply Controller/ District Food and Supply Officer/
Assistant Food and Supply Officer, concerned District Manager/ Assistant
District Manager CONFED, Chief Analyst of the Food and Supply
Department and representative of the depot holder‟s Association so as to
ensure that supply of good quality of wheat to the beneficiaries.
2.6 The Director and Special Secretary, Government of Haryana, Food and
Supplies Department issued instructions vide Order dated 21.09.2005, to
all the District Food and Supply Controllers for making the Public
Distribution System efficient. These instructions inter alia provided the
following :
(i) That the provisions of Haryana Public Distribution System (Licensing
and Control) Order, 2002 be strictly enforced and if any depot holder is
found guilty action should be taken against him immediately.
(ii) Local person should be given preference at the time of issue of a
licence.
(iii) While giving the licence for a depot it should be ensured that the
applicant is educated so that he can maintain proper records of the
work relating to the depot.
(iv) It should be ensured that the applicant for FPS depot has sufficient
space to store the food grain, Kerosene oil and sugar.
(v) The licence for the depot should be given on the recommendation of
the Panchayat. In case such a recommendation is not there, the depot
may be allotted on the recommendation of the local MLA/MP.
(vi) The depot holder should not be less than 18 years of age.
(vii) It should be ensured that licence for a depot is not issued on less than
600 cards in the urban areas. In rural areas the licence for a depot
may be issued taking a village as a unit even if the number of cards is
less than 600. However no depot should have more than 1200 cards
attached to it so that the beneficiaries do not have to travel long
distance to get to the depot.
(viii) The Fair Price Shops should remain open from 8.00 am to 12.00 noon
and 5.00 pm to 9.00 pm in summer and 9.00 am to 1.00 pm and 3.00
pm to 6.00 pm in winter.
(ix) Detailed instructions on distribution and transportation of food grain
under the Targeted Public Distribution System have also been issued.
(x) Directions were issued to the District Food & Supply Controllers to
ensure that the release orders are issued in time.
(xi) In order to ensure supply of ration to the consumer in time every
depot holder shall deposit the cost of BPL and AAY grain as per his
entitlement with the District Manager CONFED/ Co-operative
Consumer Depot from 25th to 30th for the distribution for next month.
In case the depot holder does not deposit the money as per his
entitlement action will be taken against him under the Haryana Public
Distribution System (Licensing and Control) Order, 2002.
(xii) District manager CONFED/ Consumer Co-operative Stores will give
information to the District Food and Supply Controller by the 2nd day of
each month about the depot holders who do not deposit the money by
the due date.
(xiii) The District Manager CONFED/ Consumer Co-operative Stores will
ensure door step delivery of PDS food grain to the depot holder by the
10th of every month and will give a certificate to the District Food and
Supply Controller by the 15th that delivery has been made at the door
step of the FPS.
(xiv) In villages the door step delivery of food grain should be made in the
presence of the village sarpanch and two panches and signatures of
the Sarpanch and the two panches be obtained and kept in the
concerned office of the CONFED.
(xv) The District Manager CONFED will give information about the delivery
of food grain at the door step of the FPS to the District Food Supply
Controller in advance by giving a route chart. A copy of the same will
be sent to the Deputy Commissioner/ Sub Divisional Officer.
(xvi) The District Food Supply Controller will give information in this regard
to the Deputy Commissioner/ Sub Divisional Officer by phone so that
strict vigil can be kept on the transportation of the food grain.
(xvii) It is the duty of CONFED to ensure that after lifting the food grain
from the godown delivery at the depot is made on the same day.
(xvii) The employee/ representative of CONFED accompanying the vehicle
which goes to delivery the food grain will make an entry of the
quantity issued to the depot holder in the stock register of the depot
holder with his signatures. Besides this he will also make an entry of
the place from where the food grain was lifted and the number of the
vehicle in which the food grain was delivered.
(xix) The District Food and Supply Controller and the District Manager
CONFED will review the lifting and distribution of food grain in
meetings twice a month and will ensure that there is no diversion of
food grain during transportation. Information about this will also be
given to the Deputy Commissioner/ Sub Divisional Officer.
(xx) The contractor of CONFED will be paid the transportation charges by
the CONFED only after the District Food and Supply Controller certifies
that the food grain has reached the depot.
(xxi) Participation of Panchayati Raj institutions has been ensured in
keeping a vigil on the distribution of ration items by the depot holder.
(xxii) The Vigilance Committees have been reconstituted which will have the
following members:-
2.11 Clause13. (I) No holder of a license issued under this order shall
contravene any of the terms or conditions of the license or of any control
order issued under the Act. If he contravenes any of the said terms or
conditions, without prejudice to any other action that may be taken
against him, the licence shall be suspended immediately without giving
any notice. If the licensing authority is satisfied that the licensee has
contravened any of the conditions of the license or is not performing his
responsibility and duties properly, the licensing authority shall take one or
more actions against the licensee as mentioned below:-
2.12 Clause 2(h) Provides the eligibility condition for the applicant. Provides
that a person having 10+2 or its equivalent qualification, not less than
21 years of age and is a resident of the locality for which the fair price
shop license in applied for. However, in case of a Group like Self Help
Group and Sakshar Mahila Smooh, the condition of 10+2 pass and age
will not apply;
2.13 Clause-9 of the Haryana PDS control Order 2009 provides that
responsibilities and duties of the Fair Price Shop Licensees shall
include inter alia-
(ix) the ration card holder shall not be denied the supply as per
entitlement of essential commodities lying in stock with Fair Price
Shop Owner under the Public Distribution System;
(x) the Fair Price Shop Owner shall provide the relevant extract of the
record maintained by him to the beneficiary on payment of Rs. 10/-
only;
(xi) the Fair Price Shop Owner shall not retain ration card after the
supply of essential commodities;
(xii) the Fair Price Shop Owner shall use only such weights and
measures which are duly verified by the Legal Metrology
Department, Haryana;
(xiii) the Fair Price Shop Owner shall keep the complete records of the
PDS items for at least two years in his/ her safe custody;
(xiv) the Fair Price Shop Owner shall give information every month about
the allocated PDS item, the quantity distributed by him to the
eligible consumers and the balance stock etc. to any two members
of the Vigilance Committee otherwise on supply of PDS item shall
be given to the Fair Price Shop Owner for the next month. He shall
also obtain “ satisfaction certificate” from the Vigilance Committee
regarding satisfactory distribution of all allotted items in the
previous month;
(xv) the Fair Price Shop Owner shall be responsible for making all
essential entries in the ration cards;
(xvi) the Fair Price Shop Owner shall store and sell essential
commodities only at the place specified in the license;
(xvii) behave with the consumers cordially and with due courtesy.
2.14 Clause 15 (1) of the Haryana PDS control Order 2009 provides the
licensee shall submit to the licensing authority concerned a true return in
Form C so as to reach him not later than the fifth day of each
month, of stocks, receipts and deliveries of each of the essential
commodities pertaining to the preceding month. Clause 15 (2) says
notwithstanding anything contained in sub-clause (1), the State
Government or the Director of Food Supplies or the Collector of the
District or the licensing authority may direct the licensee to submit a
return in a form prescribed by that authority.
2.15 Observations
It was observed during the visit to various districts in the State that the
instructions issued by the State Governments are not being followed
properly. Some of the observations are as follows:-
(i) Timings of shops are not maintained. During the visit of the
Committee in village Arya Nagar in District Hissar, it was found that
both the FPSs in the village were closed at about 10.30 am on
Tuesday. Similar was the position in village Ghaseda District Mewat
where the Committee found that the FPS run by one Mr. Zakhir was
closed at 10.50 am on Sunday i.e. 29 th November, 2009 (a working day
for PDS). BPL beneficiaries complained that they are given only 30 kg
wheat once in three months. The shop opens once or twice a month
and shopkeeper always says that ration has not been allocated
to him. The villagers complained that ration, if at all distributed, is
distributed after the 15th of the month. Most of the villagers are
working as labourers and they don‟t have sufficient money to buy the
ration in one go.
(ii) Many card holders of the village of BPL and AAY category complained
that they had not received their entitled ration for the month of
October and November, 2009. The officers of the Department who
accompanied the team did not have an answer to the same. It was
evident that there is no accountability of the field staff for non-
distribution by the FPS dealers. It was also told by the villagers that
there is a political interference in the allotment and functioning of FPS.
(vi) Sealed samples are not being issued to CONFED and thereby to the
FPS dealers. This affects the quality of the food grain that ultimately
reaches the beneficiaries.
DISTRIBUTION OF FOODGRAIN
3.1 Public Distribution System is operated under the joint responsibility of the
Central and the State Governments. The Central Government has taken
the responsibility for procurement, storage, transportation and bulk
allocation of food grains to States and Union Territories and maintenance
of buffer stocks. State and Union Territory Governments are responsible
for identification of BPL and AAY families; issuance of ration cards to
eligible families; storage in state/UT godowns; licencing and supervision
over fair price shops; distribution of ration to ration card holders through
the Fair Price Shops and eliminating leakages/ ghost cards etc.
3.2 The Food and Supplies Department Haryana is headed by the Financial
Commissioner and Principal Secretary to the Government of Haryana and
there is a Director Food and Supplies. At field level the District Food and
Supplies Controller heads the hierarchy and the District Food and Supply
Officers and other officers are answerable to him.
3.3 The State of Haryana is a wheat surplus State. The Central Government
under its decentralized procurement policy has allowed certain agencies of
the State Government to procure wheat on its behalf. The FCI is the
agency of the Central Government for procurement of food grain. In
Haryana the State Food and Supplies department, HAFED, FCI Haryana
Region, Haryana Warehousing Corporation, CONFED and Haryana Agro
Industries Corporation have been allowed to do procurement on behalf of
the FCI in the ratio of 20%, 33%, 20%, 9%, 9%, and 9% respectively. All
these agencies procure wheat from the farmers who come to the „ Mandis‟
set up by Haryana Agricultural Marketing Board and store it in their
godowns.
3.4 The food grain (wheat) is procured by the various agencies at the
Minimum Support Price (MSP) and stored on behalf of the FCI. The
Central Government makes allocation to the State under the Public
Distribution System as per its entitlement. The rest of the grain is utilized
for other schemes of the Central Government or is sent to other deficit
States as per the directions of the Central Government. The FCI
reimburses the State agencies for the price paid and storage costs.
3.5 The Committee visited the godowns of the FCI and Food and Supplies
department to see the conditions of storage. It was observed that the
godowns owned by the FCI have scientific storage system. However, due
to very heavy procurement in the last season a huge quantity of wheat
was still stored in the „Mandis‟ by all the agencies. Some wheat was stored
in covered sheds while a lot of wheat was stored in the open and even on
roads inside the „Mandis‟ by creating temporary platforms of wooden
crates. There is an urgent need for creating more storage space in the
State.
3.6 There was no system of weighment of grain either in the „ Mandi‟ or in the
godowns of the Food and Supplies Department visited by the Committee
at Ambala, Rohtak and Bhiwani. The trucks are weighed at private weigh
bridges (Dharam Kanata) and after loading they are again weighed at the
same weigh bridge.
3.7 No one accompanies the trucks from the godowns to the FPS. There is no
system of checking after the food grain reaches the Fair Price Shops and
before it is distributed to the beneficiary. Hence there is no check that the
entire quantity of grain reaches the Fair Price Shop.
3.8 There is absolutely no system of preparing samples at the godowns of the
State agencies. During the visit to the Mandi in Bhiwani where the stock
of the Department of Food & Supplies, Government of Haryana was there
for distribution through CONFED, it was found that no samples are
prepared for giving to the wholesalers and FPS dealers. The concerned
officers of
the State Government and the DM, CONFED, Bhiwani were requested to
follow the joint sampling system while lifting the food grains and sample
should also be given to the FPS dealers at the time of delivery. State
Government officials were requested to issue necessary instructions in this
regard to all the agencies involved in this process. No samples were
found at any of the Fair Price Shops visited by the Committee. Mr. Ajay
Jain Advocate, General Secretary Yuva Shakti, at Ambala and Mr. Suresh
Valmiki a social worker at Rohtak complained of the poor quality of wheat
supplied at the Fair Price Shops. Diversion takes place in two ways, one by
selling the PDS grain in black market and secondly by substituting good
quality of grain by poor quality. The system of joint sampling must be
enforced at all the storage points and samples must be displayed at the
Fair Price Shops so that the consumer can check the quality of food grain
supplied to him.
3.9 The Committee found that the FCI has electronic weighbridges at their
godowns. At the time of delivery of food grain to the CONFED a gate pass
is issued in which the number of bags loaded in the truck is mentioned.
The gate pass is prepared manually. A weigh check memo is prepared in
the computer system when the truck is finally weighed but copy of the
weight check memo is not supplied to the truck driver. The Committee
feels that that the truck driver should be supplied a copy of the weigh
check memo.
3.10 CONFED is the agency of the state authorized to receive the PDS grain
from the FCI or the other agencies authorized by the Government for
procurement and transport the same to the Fair Price Shops. CONFED is
headed by a board of Directors and a Managing Director. The District
Manager (DM) is the Head of District Office, besides him there are
salesmen and storekeepers also. The CONFED is fully responsible for
delivery of the food grain at the doorstep of the FPS. The storekeeper is
supposed to make entries of the food grain in the stock register of each
and every depot holder. However, since no officer of the CONFED actually
accompanies the truck such entries are not being made. CONFED has to
submit daily statement of delivery of food grain to the DM, DFSC,
respective SDM‟s and area inspector/ AFSO. The cost of transportation is
added in the sale price of food grain except AAY wheat which is being
borne by the State. In Rohtak City the transportation is being done by Co-
operative Store. They also have an FPS. The Committee observed that
there is no difference in the functioning of this FPS as compared to other
FPSs.
3.13 The State makes allocation to every district and the District Food and
Supplies Controller (DFSC) makes the allocation for every Fair Price Shop
as per the number of ration cards attached to the shop. The allocation
orders are sent to CONFED.
3.14 On the basis of entitlement, Fair Price Shop owner deposits the cost of
food grain with the authorized bank in the account of CONFED from
the 25th to 30th every month. CONFED in turn lifts the food grain
from the godowns of FCI/ State Agency and delivers the stock at the
door step of the Fair Price Shop. The Committee was informed that
food grain reaches the shops by 10th of the month of supply.
However, the Committee observed in Mewat district that for the
payment and allocation of grain following schedule is followed :
1. Usually the payment is received from FPS dealers by 5th -7th day
of the month and same takes 3-4 days in clearance by bank.
2. By 10th or 12th day of the month the Release Order is issued by
DFSC
3. Lifting by CONFED starts from 11th or 13th day of the month from
the godowns of the procurement and storage agencies in Haryana
for which the Release Order.
4. Foodgrain is delivered at the fair price shops latest by 20th day of
the month.
3.15 The Committee found that the system is violative of the directions of the
Supreme Court which require that the Fair Price Shops should remain
open through out the month and that the beneficiary should be allowed to
draw ration in installments. The system effectively ensures that the
distribution of ration has to take place only between the few days when
the delivery is made to the Fair Price Shop and when he has to close his
balance to deposit money for the next month. This system also
encourages corruption as the depot holder has the opportunity to tell the
beneficiary in the beginning of the month that no stock has been received.
A poor beneficiary is always likely to spend most of his earnings
immediately on receipt of wages at the beginning of the month and may
not be left with enough money to buy ration after the 10 th of the month.
Since ration is distributed for a limited number of days the shops do not
remain open throughout the month.
3.16 There were general complaints of short supply by the Fair Price Shop
owners. The Committee inspected several Fair Price Shops. At one of the
shops in Faridabad, it was found that the Fair Price Shop owner was
supplying only 28 kg. wheat to every BPL family, instead of their
entitlement of 33 Kg. per month. He was also not making any entry of the
quantity supplied in the ration cards. In Topkhana colony of Ambala one
FPS owner Ishwar Chand had stored PDS grain at three different
premises. There were complaints against one FPS owner Pawan Kumar of
Chhibba village in Ambala that he used to open his shop before 8.00 AM
or on Sundays only and did not open his shop on all the working days
during prescribed timings.
3.17 The Committee was also informed during public hearing and visit to
various urban colonies and villages in districts that the FPS dealer makes
the false entries in the ration cards of the beneficiaries without actually
giving the commodity.
3.18 In the year 2004 a BPL survey was conducted in the State. In this survey
all the information about the social and economic conditions of all the
families was collected on a 13 point scale. When the information collected
by the survey was sought to be verified through the Gram Sabhas it was
found that ineligible families having good means were going to be
included in BPL list while eligible families were being left out. It was found
that correct figures have not been collected during the survey due to
which there was discontentment amongst the public. Hence the survey
was cancelled and fresh survey was ordered. The fresh survey was
entrusted to Ex-servicemen. This survey was completed in 2007.
3.19 As per the Planning Commission there are 7.29 families living below the
poverty line in the State. However, the survey revealed that there are
about 11.97 families below poverty line (BPL + AAY). The category wise
break up of the families is as under
3.21 Since the number of BPL families found in the survey was more than the
estimates of the Planning Commission, the State decided in year 2008 to
treat 3.83 lakh families as “State BPL”. The BPL cards issued within the
limits prescribed by the Planning Commission are named as “ Central
BPL”. By an order dated 04.09.2008 it was decided that the State will
collect the APL and BPL allocation and distribute it amongst the Central
BPL and State BPL equally at 35Kg.per month per ration card. The
difference in cost between the APL wheat and State BPL wheat will be
borne by the State.
3.22 The allocation of wheat to the state of Haryana category wise is as under
CATEGORY ALLOCTION SCALE
(In Mt per month) (In Kg. per card
per month)
APL 7501 (from 7/08) + 35
15,000 Addl. Allocation
BPL 17,381 (from June 08) 35
AAY 10,235 (from 4/08) 35
3.23 The quota of the BPL has been reduced to 33 Kg. per family per month.
BPL card holders are given wheat @ Rs.4.84 per Kg. AAY families are
being distributed 35Kg. wheat per month @ Rs.2.10 per Kg. Wheat is
supplied to AAY families at Rs. 2.10 per Kg. (additional 10 paise are
charged on account of VAT (Value Added Tax).
3.24 During the public meetings a demand was repeatedly raised that family
norm for distribution should be replaced by the earlier system of fixing
entitlement for every individual. It was stated the present system leads
the consumers to artificially divide their families in order to obtain more
quantities of PDS commodities specially Kerosene Oil. It was stated that
there are many ration cards with only one or two members and they do
not require 33Kg. wheat every month. They actually draw less ration and
the rest is sold by the Fair Price Shop owner in the black market. In the
earlier reports, this Committee has mentioned that the individual norm has
merit. The Government may consider reverting to an individual as a unit
for allotment of Public Distribution grain.
3.25 Mr. Vinod Mittal of the Flour Mills Association represented in Ambala that
the flour mills in the State are prepared to give fortified atta at no extra
cost and will charge only for grinding and packing. The official informed
the Committee that the experiment of giving atta was tried at some
places in Haryana earlier but it was stopped due to large scale diversion
involved in the process.
3.27 In order to get a ration card for the first time, the consumer has to apply
in the prescribed form D-1 either in the office of District Food and Supplies
Controller/ Assistant Food and Supplies Officer/ Inspector Food and
Supplies in whose jurisdiction he resides. The application forms are
available in the Office of DFSC/AFSO/IFS. Along with the application he
has to submit two attested passport size photographs of his family. The
applicant has to give an affidavit declaring that he has not got prepared
any ration card anywhere in India earlier and names of the members of
his family are not included in any of the ration cards. He also has to
declare his permanent address and disclose his place/ places of residence
during the last five years. He has to give an undertaking that if any
information is found to be false, he would be liable for action as specified
in the rules/Act. The consumer is given a slip indicating the date when he
should contact the concerned office for getting the ration card. The Sub
Inspector/ Inspector verifies the particulars by physically visiting the
residence of the applicant and making necessary inquiries. He also
consults the voter list and census records before making his
recommendations. The DFSC/AFSO issues the ration card and paste one
photograph of the family on the same.
3.28 Mr. Raj Kishore a Municipal Councilor informed the Committee in a Public
Meeting at Faridabad that an applicant had to pay Rs. 500/- 1000/- for
getting a ration card.
3.29 It was informed by the District officials in Hissar that APL ration cards can
be issued to the applicants after verification by the Area Inspector.
3.31 The Committee found that many ration cards in the State had Rubber
Stamp for changing the category. In fact all the persons in the „State BPL‟
category have a stamp on the Green ration cards instead of having Yellow
ration cards. The Committee was informed that the ration cards were
issued in the State in 2005. Fresh BPL survey was finalized in 2007. At
that time instead of issuing new ration cards rubber stamp was affixed to
change the category. A list of all those who were earlier in APL category
and were found to be eligible for BPL ration cards was prepared
separately and their ration cards were marked with rubber stamp to
change their entitlement. Similarly if any person in BPL or AAY category
was found to have an improved status and fell in APL category his card
was accordingly stamped as APL.
3.32 The State agency CONFED is responsible to lift the foodgrain from the
procuring agencies and to deliver the same at the doorstep of the Fair
Price shops. The CONFED does not have its own trucks and it appoints
transporters through Tender process. The transporters appointed through
tender process usually do not have sufficient trucks and usually they have
one or two trucks of their own and rest of the trucks is hired by them.
The Committee observed that the transporters quote less than the actual
rates to get the Contract. This clearly gives inference that they recoup the
losses by diverting the foodgrain. For instance in the District of Mewat,
there are three transporters
i. One for Nuh,
ii. One for Firozpur Zirkha, Nagina, Punhan covering 193 FPS in
total.
iii. One for Hathin
On 6th March 09 tender was issued and 6 applications were received. The
transporter named Hamida was appointed and his rates for transportation
of grain were
Within District – 6.90 per quintal
Out of District- 11.50 per quintal
The rates of transportation in the previous year were Rs. 13 per quintal
for within district and out of district 20.50 per quintal. It is pertinent to
mention that the rates for the previous year was double the rates of the
current year. The transporter himself quoted such low prices and later in
August he refused to Continue as transporter even at the cost of forfeiting
his security amount. Again on 29.8.2009 fresh tenders were issued for
Sub division Nuh. All tender form were rejected due to higher rates and
Tender Committee authorized D.M to get the work done for Sept and Oct
09 only on and below the last year rates i.e Rs. 13.00 within District and
Rs. 20.50 out of district due to the election code in force . Later again on
29.10.09 and 8.11 2009 fresh tenders were issued for period of
November 2009 to March 2009. Transporter named Harkesh was
appointed on the rate as follows:
Within district: 12.50 per Q foodgrain
Out of district 20 .00 per Q foodgrain
3.35 The Department officials are duty bound to check whether the foodgrain
have reached the fair price shop or not. The department has to certify
that the 100 % foodgrain has been delivered by the transporter and give
the same to the CONFED before the bills pertaining to same is cleared.
However, the Committee observed that the department officials are not
checking the delivery of the foodgrain by CONFED appointed transporters
at the fair price shops. This clearly indicates the connivance of CONFED
officers, department officials and the transporters.
3.36 During the visit to various Districts of the State, the Committee inspected
the files of CONFED regarding the tender for transportation. The
Committee observed that there is no minimum requirement of trucks for
the transporter who apply for tender. There are some transporters who
have only 2-3 trucks have been given the contract for transportation.
These transporters hire the vehicles from the market for transporting the
food grains. Besides, the rates quoted are very low and finally the
contract is awarded on such rates that practically it may not be possible to
undertake the work at such low rates. The Committee feels that the
transporters who are given the contract at such lower rates may be
indulged in malpractices. It was also seen that the same contractor is
given the contract in the Districts continuously for years. Therefore, it is
necessary that some basic criteria may be fixed so that only those who
qualify those criteria / conditions can apply for tender. The condition of
minimum number of trucks, minimum turnover etc., may be prescribed.
The Tender Evaluation Committee must ensure that the transporter who is
handling the transportation in the district for the last two years is not
given the contract for the third year. This may be mentioned as one of
the condition in the tender notice.
3.37 There is a general complaint regarding the less allocation of kerosene oil
to APL families which are not using LPG. It was informed that APL
families are given three litre kerosene oil per month while the allocation to
BPL and AAY families is 9 litre per month. It was observed by the
Committee that in Haryana generally kerosene oil is not used for cooking
purpose in rural areas. Rather people use the kerosene oil for lighting
purposes as there is no 24 hour electricity supply is available. In urban
areas also generally people cook on LPG and kerosene oil is used for
lighting purposes. However, poor people and migrant labour etc. who
lives in the outskirts of the city use kerosene oil to some extent for
cooking purposes. Most of the kerosene oil allocated to the FPSs is
diverted in the black market. One of the reason for this black marketing is
non-availability of open sale kerosene oil in the market. Government
should take steps to allow the open sale of kerosene oil at reasonable
price, so that those who are in need of kerosene oil can get the same in
the open market and need not to encourage diversion / black marketing.
Separate licences for open market sale can be issued by the oil companies
once a policy decision is taken by the Government of India.
CHAPTER 4
1. The Committee was informed that all appointments of licencees for Fair
Price Shops have so far been made on the basis of the Haryana Control
Order of 2002. Only a few appointments have been made after the
coming into force of the new Haryana Public Distribution System
(Licensing and Control) Order, 2009 which came into effect from
14.07.2009
2. Clause 5 of the Haryana Control Order 2002 provides that The District
Food and Supplies Controller of the concerned District shall issue a licence
for regulating the sale and distribution of the essential commodities and
shall indicate the duties and responsibilities of the Fair Price Shop owner.
3. No qualifications are prescribed in the Haryana Control Order 2002 for FPS
licence. No procedure is prescribed. The Committee was informed that as
per existing norms an FPS must have a minimum 600 cards attached to it.
Whenever the number of cards with any FPS exceeds 1200 a new FPS is
created. However, in rural areas a new FPS can be issued a licence
treating the village as a unit. In such a case the FPS can have lesser
number of cards attached to it.
5. The Committee inspected the file of Bhupender Singh s/o Jaspal Singh,
Village Tandwal, Tehsil, Barara. It was found that the Gram Panchayat
passes a resolution which is forwarded in original to the District Food &
Supplies Controller by the Block Development & Panchayat Officer. In the
case of Bhupinder Singh, the resolution was passed by the Gram
Panchayat on 06.11.2008 and it was forwarded by the Block Development
& Panchayat Officer on 18.11.2008. Bhupinder Singh submitted an
application to the DSFC in Form „A‟ on 20.11.2008. Along with application,
he filed an affidavit stating that he wanted a ration depot at village
Tandwal and that he has not been awarded any ration depot / FPS for
foodgrain or any other controlled commodities in the State of Haryana
either in his name or in the name of his dependents or to any other set up
in which he or his family members / dependents have any financial
interest that he or any of his family members are not running any FPS and
that he had not submitted any application earlier. That he was not
working in any factory / firm full time or part time. That he or his family
members had not been penalized for distribution of controlled
commodities. That he had never been convicted by any court of law.
That he has not directly or indirectly any ration depot running in the State.
And that he undertakes to abide by the rules. He also submitted the
details of his family members and a copy of his ration card and a
certificate of his educational qualification.
6. The application was marked to the Assistant Food & Supply Officer (AFSO)
for verification. After verification, he was granted the licence.
9. It appears that the receipt of the second application by Jamil Ahmed was
a mere formality. The Committee asked the DFSO as to how Chhaya
Srivastava came to know about the vacancy and applied for the same, to
which no satisfactory answer was given.
10. The Committee desired to see more application files for grant of licence to
clear the doubts. In spite of several requests, the officials did not produce
other files. One other file was brought, but when the Committee started
scrutinizing the same, it was found that there was only one application in
the file and the rejected applications were not on the file. The officials
stated that they had not brought the complete file. In spite of repeated
requests, the file was not shown to the Committee again.
12. One Anshul Garg s/o Sh Naresh Kumar Garg applied for a FPS in Ward
No.1, Ladwa. His application was recommended by Shri Ramesh Gupta,
MLA of Thanesar. The application was marked to the AFSO for report on
22.12.2006. According to the report of the AFSO, there were 6250 ration
cards in Ladwa and 10 FPS were functioning. However, 6600-6800 D-1
forms had been distributed out of which some were still pending and
more ration cards were likely to be issued. Thus, the condition of 600
ration cards was fulfilled. Anshul Garg was issued a letter to get the
names of 600 card holders who were prepared to draw ration from his
shop. The AFSO submitted report on 20.01.2007 stating that Anshul Garg
had fulfilled the requisite conditions and submitted a list of 600 card
holders. He was allotted the FPS vide order dated 30.1.2007.
13. Prince Khurana s/o Sh Suraj Prakash applied for an FPS in Ward No.1,
Kurukshetra on 07.2.2008. His application was recommended by the
Municipal Councilor and MLA. Publicity was given by munadi and FPS was
allotted to Prince Khurana after completing the requisite formalities.
Similarly, in the case of Shri Narendra Behl s/o sh Jagdish Rai, the FPS
was allotted on the recommendations of MLA, Thanesar and in the case of
Sh. Sanjeev Kumar s/o Suresh Kumar, the application was recommended
by the Municipal Counselor and allotted without any publicity.
14. In Faridabad, the Committee visited Sector -3 and found that that one Sh.
Surinder Yadav and his father, Ram Sudhar Yadav were both having FPSs
in the same district. Discussions with officials also revealed that there
were instances where the son of a Sarpanch had been granted a licence
for an FPS on the recommendation of the Sarpanch. The Committee was
informed that a decision had been taken about 15 years ago, to treat a
son who is living separately from his father and is not dependent on his
father as a separate entity. It is for this reasons that the explanations to
Clause 4 (3) of the Haryana Public Distribution System (Licensing and
Control) Order, 2009 defines „family‟ as „including all those persons whose
names have been entered in the ration card of a fair price shop owner or
who are dependent upon him‟.
15. Though the applicant is required to give a declaration to the effect „that
he has not been awarded any ration depot / FPS shop for foodgrain or
any other controlled commodities in the State of Haryana either in his
name or in the name of his dependents or to any other set up in which he
or his family members / dependents have any financial interest that he or
any of his family members are not running any FPS and that he had not
submitted any application earlier‟ shops are allotted to the
family members of the existing FPS dealers because of the unrealistic
interpretation given to the „family‟. This leads to the corrupt practice of an
influential family having several FPS licences. The Government should take
a fresh look into this aspect and remove this anomaly by redefining the
„family‟ to include son/daughter/brother/sister/ daughter in
law/ wife/widow of a brother etc.
16. In District Hissar, during the discussion with the District officials it was
informed that an unemployed graduate was allotted one FPS in the rural
area on the recommendation of the Sarpanch. The allotment made to him
because the earlier FPS owner had resigned. Based on the number of
cards, a rough calculation showed the income from sale of food grains,
kerosene oil and sugar after deducting expenses as less than Rs.1000/-. It
was not stated as to how the allottee would be able to run the shop and
whether he was told that he would not have enough income and infact
suffer loss.
18. The Haryana Public Distribution System (Licensing and Control) Order,
2009 came into effect from 14th July 2009. Clause 5 of the Control Order
of 2009 is as under :-
19. Licensing Authority shall call for applications through local publicity and
munadi in the local area of the Fair Price Shop. If any applicant is
graduate he shall be preferred. The order of preference of all eligible
applicants shall be as under:-
i. Self Help Group of Sakshar Mahila Group
ii. Unemployed Female / Male graduate ;
iii. Scheduled Caste female / male
iv. Backward Class (A) female / male;
v. Ex-serviceman.
21. The provisions of the Haryana Control Order 2009 recognizes and gives
legitimacy to political interference in appointment of dealers by making
the Sarpanch and the Municipal Councilor as members of the rural/urban
committees appointed for recommending the applicants for allotment of
licences for Fair Price Shops. The Committee is of the view that political
involvement in the grant of licences has to be completely eliminated.
22. Applications for FPS licences should be invited through publication in the
local news papers. Wide publicity should be given so that all persons
desirous of applying come to know about the vacancy.
23. It is a well documented fact that the FPS owner is in business for the
purpose of diversion or for political influence or other influence that he
can wield by being an FPS retailer. There is massive corruption woven
around it where the participants are the shop keeper, officials of the
Department / Corporation, transporters and last but not the least the
politicians. The Committee is of the view that the reservation for various
categories provided in the Haryana Public Distribution (Licensing and
Control) Order, 2009 appears rather unnecessary. FPS licences should be
allotted to persons of the locality who are already running kirana/ grocery
shop or have the capability to do so.
24. Though there is a clamour for allotment for FPS, the stand alone FPS does
not rehabilitate or support sustenance of any category or gender. It rather
breeds corruption.
CHAPTER 5
VIABILITY
5.1 Viability of FPS is linked with the rate of commission to be paid to FPS
dealers. The Committee discussed the issue of viability with FPS
owners and their associations, government officials and also invited
written suggestions from the public.
1
PEO, Performance Evaluation of Targeted Public Distribution System-2005, (at
pg vi and 50).
5.5 The PEO report, 2005 brings out the importance of kerosene in the
income composition of the FPS. The Report states that the income
from kerosene almost equals the combined share of income generated
from sale of BPL rice and wheat and thus speaks of the importance of
keeping kerosene within the PDS retail trading to improve their
viability.
5.6 The State of Haryana provided the Committee with the following
calculation with respect to viability of FPS.
Economics of Depot
1. The following is the viability of few FPS visited by the Committee in the
State of Haryana
1. FPS Dealer Somnath, PDS License No. 31, Ward No. 19, Arya Nagar, Rohtak.
There were 700 cards attached to the FPS – APL – 583, Central BPL – 21, State
BPL – 88, AAY – 8.
Expenditure Amount
Rent 450
Electricity 0
Stationery & Miscellaneous Charges 100
Transportation 30
Total 580
Apart from running an FPS, the FPS dealer was also carrying on a business of a
property dealer. He stated that he had not received sugar since the last 4
months. The officials in turn stated that the same was indeed correct and the
allocation was delayed but the FPS dealer was assured that they would get their
complete quota.
Expenditure Amount
Rent 1000
Electricity 500
Stationery & Miscellaneous Charges 100
Transportation 30
Total 1630
Apart from running the FPS, the dealer was also running a business of
purchasing and selling cars and was also running a separate shop selling cellular
phones.
3. FPS Dealer Deepak Prakash Jain, Shop No. PDS No. 18, Ward No. 5. He is
running the FPS since 1999. There were 1169 cards attached to the FPS –
Central BPL – 49, State BPL – 64, AAY – 104, APL – 952
Commodity Quantity Commission Income
Wheat 73.69quintals Rs.18/- 1326.42
Sugar 4.34 quintals Rs.19.60/- 85.06
Kerosene 5026 litres Re. 0.16/- 804.16
Gunny 157 bags Rs.10 per bag 1570.00
Total 3785.64
Expenditure Amount
Rent 200
Electricity 30
Stationery & Miscellaneous Charges 100
Transportation 30
Total 360
There were two brothers who were running the shop. They stated that they had
6 members in their family and apart from the FPS, they also worked as agents
for getting licenses made for persons. They also stated that their father was a
Chartered Accountant. They stated that they should also be supplied rice and
dal, as was the case in Delhi, to make their shop more viable.
4. FPS Dealer Naresh Nagwan, PDS No. 145, Ward No. 2, Rohtak
There were 729 cards attached to the FPS – APL - 351, Central BPL – 157, State
BPL – 173, AAY – 48. 1053
Expenditure Amount
Rent 600
Electricity 0
Stationery & Miscellaneous Charges 100
Transportation 30
Total 700
Net Income (Income – Expenditure) 5554.55
The FPS dealer stated that he was satisfied with running the FPS and also
worked as an electrician.
5. Patram, PDS No. 274, Ward No. 2, Rohtak. There were 903 cards attached to
the FPS – APL - 619, Central BPL - 92, State BPL – 150, AAY – 42. 1857
Expenditure Amount
Rent 1000
Electricity 0
Stationery & Miscellaneous Charges 250
Transportation 30
Total 1280
Apart, from running the FPS, the dealer also used to work part-time in a factory
with his brother during off hours. He had 4 members in his family.
6. FPS Dealer Kaushalya Devi, FPS No. 1347, Faridabad. There were 683 cards
attached to the FPS – APL – 550, BPL – 133.
Expenditure Amount
Rent 1000
Electricity 0
Stationery & Miscellaneous Charges 100
Transportation 30
Total 1130
5.7 The Fair Price Shops in Haryana are governed by the Haryana Public
Distribution System (Licensing and Control) Order, 2009. Under this
control order a FPS license can be granted for a minimum number
of 600 ration cards not exceeding 1200 ration cards, but in rural areas
a village shall be treated as one unit for this purpose and as such the
license for the FPS may be issued even for less than 600 ration cards
of the village. Clause 5 of the said Order states that the
license under this control order can be granted to a Sakshar Makhila
Smooh or Self help Group or a cooperative society or a corporation.
5.8 As seen above and as stated by the Committee in its earlier reports, a
stand alone FPS is not profitable and even if the Commission is
increased to 100%, it will not result into sufficient income for the FPS
dealer. It is a matter of common knowledge that in order to augment
his income, an FPS owner diverts PDS food grains in the black market
and shares the ill-gotten money with the officials of the Department.
5.9 The Committee is of the view that since any amount of increase in
commission would not make an FPS viable, it is, therefore, necessary
that FPS dealers should sell grocery items along with PDS food grain
items. The condition should be that in the Grocery / Kirana shop, the
sale should only be of non PDS commodities. The Committee feels that
the condition should be put in the licence that FPS owner must have a
running Kirana / Grocery shop. In case of default or non compliance
with the condition, the FPS licence should be revoked.
2. There has been a general suggestion that the commission of the fair price
shops should be increased to approx 2.5% to 10%. However, the
Committee reiterates its stand which it stated in its Delhi report that in
order to improve the viability of fair price shop, the consumers should not
be burdened and also no additional burden should be there on the
government.
3. It was observed by the Committee that some FPS dealers have very few
beneficiaries attached to their shops while other have a large number of
beneficiaries. Number of ration cards attached to shop has a direct
bearing on the income of FPS. There have been a number of demands
that each FPS should have sufficient number of ration cards attached to it.
Thus, there should be rationalization of cards for each FPS. There is a
need for rationalization of the number of beneficiaries attached to the FPS
to make the shops financially viable.
6.1 Till 1992, the PDS was a general entitlement scheme for all consumers,
without specific targets. The Revamped Public Distributed System (RPDS)
was launched in 1992 in 1775 blocks in tribal, hill and drought prone
areas. PDS as it stood earlier, had been widely criticized for its failure to
serve the population Below the Poverty Line (BPL), its urban bias, limited
coverage in the States with high concentration of the rural poor and lack
of transparent and accountable arrangements for delivery of ration.
6.2 In June 1997, the Government of India launched the Targeted Public
Distribution System (TPDS) with focus on the poor. Under the TPDS,
States are required to formulate and implement foolproof arrangements
for identification of the poor for delivery of food grains and for its
distribution in a transparent and accountable manner at the FPS level.
6.3 The scheme, when introduced, was intended to benefit about 6 crore poor
families for whom a quantity of about 72 lakh tonnes of food grains was
earmarked annually. The identification of the poor under the scheme is
done by the States as per State-wise poverty estimates of the Planning
Commission for 1993-94 based on the methodology of the “Expert Group
on estimation of proportion and number of poor” chaired by Late Prof.
Lakdawala. The allocation of food grains to the States/UTs was made on
the basis of average consumption in the past i.e. average annual off-take
of food grains under the PDS during the past ten years at the time of
introduction of TPDS.
6.4 The quantum of food grains in excess of the requirement of BPL families
was provided to the States as transitory allocation for which a quantum of
103 lakh tonnes of food grains was earmarked annually. Over and above
the TPDS allocation, additional allocation to States was also given. The
transitory allocation was intended for continuation of benefit of subsidized
food grains to the population Above the Poverty Line (APL) as any sudden
withdrawal of benefits existing under PDS from them was not considered
desirable. The transitory allocation was issued at prices, which were
subsidized but were higher than the prices for the BPL quota of food
grains.
6.5 Keeping in view the consensus on increasing the allocation of food grains
to BPL families, and to better target the food subsidy, Government of
India increased the allocation to BPL families from 10 kg. to 20 kg of food
grains per family per month at 50% of the economic cost and allocation to
APL families at economic cost with effect from. 01.04.2000. The
allocation of APL families was retained at the same level as at the time of
introduction of TPDS but the Central Issue Prices (CIP) for APL were fixed
at 100% of economic cost from that date so that the entire consumer
subsidy could be directed to the benefit of the BPL population.
6.6 The number of BPL families has been increased with effect from.
01.12.2000 by shifting the base to the population projections of the
Registrar General as on 1.3.2000 instead of the earlier population
projections of 1995. With this increase the total number of BPL families is
652.03 lakh as against 596.23 lakh families originally estimated when
TPDS was introduced in June 1997. The number of families below poverty
line (BPL+AAY) as per the planning Commission estimates for the State of
Haryana has been fixed at 7.33 Lakhs.
6.7 Clause 3 of the Control Order 2001 provides that the State Governments
shall identify families living Below Poverty Line as per paragraph 1 of the
Annexe to this Order. Para (1) of the Annexe to the Control Order, 2001
provides Guidelines for the purpose of identification of families living
below the poverty line (BPL) including the Antyodaya families. It provides
that the State Government shall formulate guidelines for the purposes of
identification of families living Below Poverty Line (BPL) including the
Antyodaya families as per the estimates adopted by the Central
Government. Care shall be taken to ensure that the families so far
identified are really poor. Exercise of identification of BPL and Antyodaya
families, wherever it has not been done already to be completed within
three months of the issuance of the Control Order, 2001.
6.8 The guidelines for implementing the TPDS issued by the Central
Government provide:-
(i) Identification of beneficiaries of the Targeted Public Distribution System
(TPDS) namely the population Below Poverty Line (BPL) and issue of food
grains at specially subsidized rates are the most important features of the
TPDS. To work out the population Below Poverty Line (BPL) it is proposed
to adopt the provisional estimates arrived at by the Planning Commission
for the year 1993-94 adopting the methodology of the expert group on
estimation of proportion and number of poor headed by Prof. D.T.
Lakdawala.
(ii) According to the official methodology, the number and percentage of
Below Poverty Line population for 1993-94 works out to 14.98 crores
persons and 16.82% respectively. As per the Expert Group methodology
this works out to 32.03 crores and 35.97%. The Expert Group
methodology according to the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission
gives “poverty estimates closer to ground reality” and as such it is
proposed to adopt them for the Targeted PDS.
6.9 While these estimates give the number of persons and percentage of BPL
population at State Level, identification at the micro level of the
population Below Poverty Line can be done as indicated below :-
ii) Gram Panchayats and Gram Sabhas should be involved in the initial
identification of eligible families.
iv) As regards urban population, slum dwellers will generally qualify for the
Below Poverty Line. Applications, if any, received from non-slum areas
should be verified to identify eligible beneficiaries.
v) The thrust will be to include only the really poor and vulnerable sections
of the society such as landless agricultural labourers, marginal farmers,
rural artisans / craftsmen such as potters, tappers, weavers, blacksmiths,
carpenters, etc. in rural areas and slum dwellers and persons earning their
livelihood on a daily basis in the informal sector like porters, coolies,
rickshaw pullers and hand-cart pullers, fruit and flower sellers on the
payment etc. in urban areas.
vi) The above criterion is indicated only by way of illustration and is not an
exhaustive list of those who could be brought within the ambit of the
Below Poverty Line. The total number identified, however, should be
within the limit of Below Poverty Line population indicated by the Planning
Commission.
6.10 The perusal of these guidelines would show that the Survey made by the
Rural Development Department of the State could be a basis but the
overall number of BPL identified by the States had to be limited within the
limits prescribed for BPL by the Union Planning Commission adopting the
methodology of the Expert Group headed by Late Prof. Lakdawala.
6.11 The State of Haryana has through the survey of 2007 determined the BPL
and AAY beneficiaries on a 13 point scale. The survey was conducted by
the rural Development and Urban Development Departments. Since the
number of BPL families found in the survey was more than the estimates
of the Planning Commission, the State decided to treat 3.83 lakh families
as „State BPL‟. By an Order dated 04.09.2008 it was decided that
the State will collect the APL and BPL allocation and distribute it amongst
the Central BPL and State BPL equally at 35Kg.per month per ration card.
The difference in cost between the APL wheat and State BPL wheat
will be
borne by the State. The quota of the BPL has since been reduced to 33
Kg. per family per month. BPL card holders are given wheat @ Rs.4.84
per Kg. AAY families are being distributed 35Kg. wheat per month @
Rs.2.10 per Kg.
6.13 There was a general complaint in all the public meetings during the visit
of the Committee to various Districts of the State, and also while the
Committee visited the villages to meet the beneficiaries that the BPL
survey had not been conducted properly. Many deserving families had
been left out from the BPL list and many well to do families had obtained
BPL or even AAY cards. It was alleged that the survey teams did not visit
the consumers instead they met the Sarpanch and made the BPL lists
under political influence. The Committee is of the view that though some
of these complaints may be motivated, it is necessary for the State
Government to have a periodical check of ration cards and this should be
continuous process as provided in Para 2 of the Annex to The Public
Distribution System (Control) Order, 2001.
6.14 The Committee is of the opinion that some independent agency who has
experience in this field should be entrusted with the task of identification
of BPL families. This wrong identification / inclusion / exclusion errors has
been found by the Committee in many of the States visited. Therefore, it
is suggested that Registrar General of India (RGI) which is entrusted with
the task of Census after every 10 years should be given this task in all the
States of the union. It is hoped that the survey / identification by such an
organization will be free of errors and without any extraneous
considerations rather on merit and only the deserving families will be
included in the BPL category.
CHAPTER 7
COMPUTERISATION
7.1 The Public Distribution System (Control) Order, 2001 provides that the
State Government shall ensure monitoring of the functions of the Public
Distribution System (PDS) at the Fair Price Shop (FPS) level through the
computer network of the National Informatics Center (NIC) installed in the
District NIC centers. For this purpose computerized codes shall be issued
to each FPS in the district.2
2
Para 6(6) of the Annex to the Public Distribution System (Control) Order, 2001
7.2 The Committee has already submitted a detailed report on
Computerisation of PDS which may be read as part of this report. The
present chapter deals specifically with computerisation of PDS in the State
of Haryana. The State of Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh
have been selected for the pilot projects on computerisation of the Public
Distribution System. The Committee invited the team of officers from the
State, officers from HARTRON responsible for implementation of the
project and the representative of Expedien_E-Solutions who gave a
presentation of the proposed system. The Committee obtained a copy of
the Detailed Project Report (DPR) and visited the PR Center at Ambala
where the work on the computerisation project is in progress.
7.3 The proposal is to issue smart cards to each level of the distribution chain,
i.e. the transporter, the FPS dealer and the consumer. In Haryana the
agency which is performing the task of transportation of food grains from
the godown to the FPS dealer is the CONFED.
7.4 In the proposed system, when the CONFED transporters take delivery
from the godown, Depot Holder wise distribution information (i.e. the FPS
details and quantity allotted) are loaded on the transporter‟s smart card
using the STT and 2 receipts are generated one for the transporter and
the other is the copy for the godown in charge. In this system only data
entry is made and the weight of the stock loaded on the truck is not cross
checked using an electronic weigh bridge in conjunction with the smart
card. In order to eliminate human intervention to the maximum extent
electronic weigh bridges should be used at all whole sale storage points
and the stock loaded in the trucks should be checked using the electronic
weigh bridge in conjunction with the smart card.
7.5 When the truck reaches the FPS to deliver the stock, the CONFED
transporter inserts his card in the Depot Holder‟s STT. Stock gets
automatically transferred in the Depot Holder‟s terminal, the transaction
report gets stored in the Transporters card and 2 receipt‟s are generated,
i.e. one for the FPS dealer and the other for the transporter.
7.6 The consumer comes to the FPS for purchase of food grains, inserts his
smart card in the STT, place his finger on the terminal for bio-metric
verification. After the details are verified, the entitlement and price
payable are displayed on the terminal. The FPS dealer thereafter
completes the transaction by issuing the desired quantity to the consumer
and the details of the transaction are loaded on the smart card and a
paper receipt is simultaneously issued to the consumer. The system does
not provide for authentication by the consumer, prior to the completion of
the transaction as confirmation that the correct quantity of the stock has
been issued to him.
7.7 The system should verify the card of the consumer on its being inserted in
the STT and there should be no need to verify the biometric details at this
stage. It is only after the desired quantity is entered by the FPS dealer in
the STT and the same is received by the consumer, should the consumer
be required to authenticate the transaction by placing his finger on the
designated spot on the STT, thereby confirming that the transaction has
been completed to his satisfaction. If he does not do so it would signify
that there is some deficiency in the transaction and the transaction would
not be completed and recorded on the STT or the smart card.
7.8 The Committee was informed that first phase of this project has been
completed in most of the districts and now second phase is being
implemented in seven districts.
At the time of the visit of the Committee to the PR Center at Ambala D-1
forms which are the original application forms for obtaining a ration card
were being scanned and images of the same were being fed into the
computers. The work was being implemented by SIFY. The Committee
was informed that after all the D-1 forms are scanned the family details of
each form would be fed in the system in the forms designed for this
purpose. Tender process for appointing the contractor for acquiring the
necessary hardware and implementation of the smart card project has
started. Once the contractor is appointed and the hardware is in place the
software modules prepared by the NIC will be tested and implemented.
CHAPTER 8
8.2 There is no separate unit in the police for enforcement of the provisions of
the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. Some cases are detected by
department in routine or in special drives. The following table shows the
number of cases registered and the action taken during the last 4 years
8.5 The State should set up Vigilance Committees at State and District levels
also to keep an eye on the Public Distribution System. The State level
Vigilance Committee should be headed by the Commissioner Food and
Supply and the District Level vigilance committee should be headed by the
Deputy Commissioner. Date, Place and time for the meeting of the
Committees should be fixed in advance. For example the State Level
Vigilance Committee should meet once in two months on the first Monday
of January, March, May and so on, at the office of the Commissioner Food
and supply at 11.00 AM. The District Level vigilance Committee can meet
at the office of the Deputy Commissioner on the first Wednesday at 11.00
AM.
8.7.1 Legal Metrology Department of the State is responsible for certifying the
weights and scales of all establishments. This includes the entities
involved in the PDS.
8.7.2 The FPS dealers are required to take annual certification from the Weights
and Measures Department after getting their weighing machine checked.
8.7.3 The FPSs are supposed to take their weighing instruments including the
weights and the scales to the office of the Legal Metrology Department
which stamps the instruments and gives receipt of the amount paid by the
dealer as certification fee.
8.7.4 However there is no coordination between the Legal Metrology
Department and the PDS enforcement agencies. The Metrology
department does not conduct regular or random inspections of the FPSs,
to ensure that the weights and scales used therein are correctly aligned.
Since there are no inspections, the question of initiating action against
errant establishments also does not arise. Thus the role of the Legal
Metrology department is limited to giving annual certification.
8.10 A Public hearing for PDS on the lines of the Bijlee Lok Adalat must be
convened at a designated place, time and day every 2 to 3 months where
general public can seek to resolve outstanding issues pertaining to the
PDS. These may include those relating to their category / entitlements,
non-issuance of the cards, bifurcation of cards, wrong inclusion of APL,
complaints regarding under-weighment etc. PDS Lok Adalat so
constituted should be presided over by District Judge or a Judicial Officer
nominated by him not less than the rank of Additional Judge and should
include the Collector of the District and the District Supply Officer. A
system of accountability must be put in place to ensure the
implementation of decisions taken during these hearings.
8.12 It is therefore necessary that the special squads are set up by the State
consisting of persons draw from the administration and the police and
should be placed directly under the District Magistrate. These squads
should be responsible for launching criminal prosecutions and also for
recommending departmental action for suspension or cancellation of
licence, or imposing penalties No action has been taken against any
official though it is admitted that no diversion of food grain is possible
without the connivance of the officials of the department. It is also
important that these squads also have the powers to recommend action
against officials in whose jurisdiction violations are detected or who is
found to be involved in diversion of food grain. The Committee is of the
opinion that there should be dedicated Special squads in every District
for enforcement of the penal provisions of the Essential Commodities
Act, 1955. The Committee has suggested Zero Tolerance in the matter
of enforcement in the Public Distribution System. Similarly a special
squad should also be created at the State level for surprise checks
whenever there is complaint requiring such action. Prosecutors should
be specially trained for conducting cases under the Essential
Commodities Act.
8.13 Special attention is also required to ensure speedy disposal of cases filed
in courts. Special Courts may have to be set up in consultation with the
High Court to ensure speedy disposal.
CHAPTER 9
9.2 The Committee was informed that in the meeting of District Food and
Supplies Controllers held on 16.06.1998, it was decided that whole meal
atta may be distributed amongst the ration card holders instead of wheat.
9.3 Due to the complaints of whole meal atta in January, 2002 it was
decided that whole meal atta and wheat in grain form may be
distributed as per the choice of consumers.
9.4 A letter dated 27.06.2003 was received from the Govt. of India in which it
was intimated that there are too much complaints about the quality of the
atta. Govt. of India intimated that when there is no provision to distribute
atta under TPDS why the State Govt. is distributing atta instead of wheat
in grain form. The matter was discussed and it was decided to continue
with the present policy of need based supply of atta or wheat which ever
is required by the consumers.
9.5 It was informed to the Committee that in the meeting held on 28.03.2005
under the Chairmanship of the then Deputy Chief Minister Haryana it was
decided that suggestions may be called from the District Officers in regard
to distribution of whole meal atta/ wheat. As per the suggestions of the
District Officers of the Department it was decided on 31.03.2005 that only
wheat be distributed in grain form under TPDS instead of atta. From
01.04.2005 wheat is being distributed under TPDS in grain form.
9.6 The Committee was informed that State Government had started
distribution of atta instead of wheat in certain areas and that Scheme was
subsequently withdrawn. The Committee could not find any substantial
reasons first for supply of atta and then subsequently the withdrawal of
scheme
9.7 During Public Hearings people supported supply of atta instead of wheat
in the urban areas. This did not find favour with the FPS owners objection
to the supply of atta was basically due to less shelf life. The atta is
presently supplied basically in the State of Gujrat , Rajasthan and Union
Territory of Chandigarh.
9.8 The Government of India decided vide letter dated 17.01.2008 to adopt a
policy of encouraging distribution of wheat flour to ration card holders of
AAY, BPL and APL categories under the TPDS. The State Governments
should take up distribution of wheat flour through the network of fair price
shops to AAY, BPL and APL categories of card holders under the TPDS,
subject to the following terms and conditions:-
(a) Distribution of wheat products other than wheat flour such as suji,
maida, rawa etc. will not be permissible from the allocations of
wheat made by the Deptt. of Food and Public Distribution, Govt. of
India under the TPDS.
(f) The ratio of whole wheat flour to whole wheat should be fixed by
the State/ UT Govts. appropriately in such a way as maximum
quantity of wheat flour is obtained from the whole wheat to be
issued to flour mills for this purpose.
(j) The quantity of unlifted wheat flour/ atta from fair price shops, if
any, during a month may not be disposed of in the open market
but carried forward to the next month for distribution subject to it
retaining the required quality and the wheat allocation to
RFMs/Chakki mills for conversion into wheat flour for the next
month will be proportionately reduced by the State/UT Govt.
authorities.
(k) The State/UT Governments or their Agencies will not make any
profit in implementation of the scheme.
(l) The distribution of wheat flour / atta through PDS outlets will be
made as per provisions of the PDS (Control) Order, 2001 and any
violation of the Order will result in imposition of penalties under the
EC Act, 1955.
9.9 Since shelf life of wheat flour (Atta) is only 45 days it has to be
ensured that the product is distributed and consumed within the
stipulated period of shelf life so as to avoid product deterioration. The
Committee would suggest the following steps:-
1. There should be a dedicated flour mill for grinding PDS wheat. In case
that is not immediately possible, it should be ensured that the day on
which the PDS wheat is ground no other wheat will be ground in that
flour mill.
6. The date of grinding of the wheat and the date on the HDPE bag
should be same and the bags should also contain all other relevant
particulars like the expiry date, batch no., name of the mill, etc.
CHAPTER 10
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Committee visited the State Headquarters in Chandigarh and also some
Districts – Ambala, Kurukshetra, Rohtak, Faridabad, Mewat, Palwal, Bhiwani and
Hissar. During the visit the Committee discussed various issues concerning PDS
with the State Government officials, District officials, consumers, Fair Price Shop
dealers, NGOs, SHGs, and other stake holders to find out the problems in the
State. The details about the visit have been discussed in different chapters.
Following are some of the suggestions / recommendations for improvement of
PDS in the State:-
1. There was a general complaint in all the public meetings, that the
Committee held, and also while the Committee visited the villages to meet
the consumers that the BPL survey had not been conducted properly.
Many deserving families had been left out from the BPL list and many well
to do families had obtained BPL or even AAY cards. It was alleged that the
survey teams did not visit the consumers instead they met the Sarpanch
and made the BPL lists under political influence. The Committee feels that
though some of these complaints may be motivated, it is necessary for
the State Government to have a periodical checking of ration cards and
this should be continuous process as provided in Para 2 of the Annex to
The Public Distribution System (Control) Order, 2001.
3. Under the existing system food grain should reach the Fair Price Shops by
10th of the month. Some times the delivery is delayed even till the 15 th.
The State Government should ensure that the PDS food grain reaches the
Fair Price Shops before the 1 st of every month so that distribution can
start at the beginning of the month and continue throughout the month.
The Fair Price Shops should remain open on all working days during the
specified hours. The consumer should be allowed to draw ration in
installments.
6. Joint sampling of grain is not taking place at all. The Committee found
that none of the FPSs, visited by it had valid samples. Thus, there is no
check on the quality of grain which is sold at the FPSs. Joint sampling of
food grain should be done at the time of lifting from the godowns of the
agencies and samples should be displayed at the Fair Price Shops.
7. In order to ensure proper quality and quantity food grain can be packed in
smaller packing of appropriate sizes in non pilferable, tamper proof bags
like HDPE bags.
8. It is no secret that an FPS dealer can not honestly earn enough to sustain
himself and his family. To avoid running into losses he indulges in black
marketing. Study of the Committee shows that merely increasing the
commission will not result in making the FPS a profitable or viable
proposition. The Committee is of the view that the concept of stand alone
FPS should be changed. It should be in the condition of FPS licence that
he runs a kirana/ grocery shop. He should be permitted to sell all items
except PDS rice and wheat. This way the FPS owner can earn profit and
the shop will remain open through out the month. Moreover attached
number of cards means a set number of customers in any case and it will
not be necessary to put any condition in the licence to keep the shop
open during particular hours or to observe a particular day as a holiday.
Programme Evaluation Organisation under Planning Commission in its
evaluation Report on TPDS defined Viability of FPS to mean an annual
return of 12% or more on the working capital. 3 However, the commission
rate of the FPS dealer is very low and any increase in the commission
means extra burden either on the beneficiary or on the Government.
Therefore, the FPS dealership should be given to the kirana shop owner to
make the shop financially viable. The Committee also feels that the
income equivalent to 12% annual return on the investment as observed
by the Planning Commission in not enough to servive or make the FPS
viable. For example, the investment needed by an FPS dealer with 750
cards (200 BPL + AAY and 550 APL) is only about Rs. 80,000/- . The
annual return at 12% on this amount comes to only Rs. 9,600/- i.e. Rs.
8,00/- per month.
3
PEO, Performance Evaluation of Targeted Public Distribution System-2005, (at
pg vi and 50).
10. It is a well documented fact that the FPS owner is in business for the
purpose of diversion or for political influence or other influence that he
can wield by being an FPS retailer. There is massive corruption woven
around it where the participants are the shop keeper, officials of the
Department / Corporation, transporters and last but not the least the
politicians. The Committee is of the view that the reservation for various
categories provided in the Haryana Public Distribution (Licensing and
Control) Order, 2009 appears rather unnecessary. FPS licences should be
allotted to persons of the locality who are already running kirana/ grocery
shop or have the capability to do so.
12. The State should set up Vigilance Committees at the State and District
levels also to keep an eye on the Public Distribution System. Date, Place
and time for the meeting of the committees should be fixed in advance.
Vigilance Committees at various levels be strengthened by including the
NGOs, Self Help Group, Consumer Organisations and the educated youth
in the Vigilance Committee at various levels. The meetings of the Vigilance
Committees must be convened regularly. The Secretary of the
Department of Food & Supply should be responsible for convening the
meeting at the State level. Similarly Deputy Commissioner should ensure
that the meetings of the Vigilance Committee at District level are held at
regular intervals, at the Fair Price level the responsibility can be given for
convening the meetings regularly to Municipal Councilors of the area for
Urban Areas and Block Development Officer for the FPSs in Rural Areas.
13. The Village/ FPS level committee should also meet regularly every month.
Minutes of the meetings of the vigilance committees should be recorded.
Follow up action should be verified in the next meeting.
15. There should be a complaint mechanism and the State should set up a 24
hours toll free helpline where a beneficiary can lodge his complaint. The
toll free number should be printed or stamped on the Ration Card. There
should be a system of the follow up of the complaint. A post of
Ombudsman/Regulator should be set up as suggested by this Committee
in its Delhi Report. The Ombudsman/Regulator should look into the
complaints received through the helpline and take appropriate action
against the defaulting licences and the officials concerned.
16. The Legal Metrology Department does not play an active role in the
monitoring and enforcement of the PDS. Thus it is recommended the
Legal Metrology Department works in coordination with the PDS
administration. The officials of the Legal Metrology department should
also be made accountable for any act of omission or commission in
fulfilling their duties.
17. The rate, at which action is taken against the errant FPS dealers and
errant officials, is abysmally low. Thus there is no effective deterrent to
stop malpractice in PDS. It is necessary that there should be special
squads for enforcement of PDS. The squads should be responsible
conducting raids, surprise checks, conducting prosecutions,
recommending Departmental action against the officials and taking action
against the defaulting officer under the Essential Commodities Act 1955,
Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Indian Penal Code. PDS operation
should be based on the principle of zero tolerance. Any infraction of the
Rules and Regulations or Instructions should invite strict action not only
against the FPS owner but also the concerned officials.
18. The Committee feels that awareness is very important for proper
functioning of PDS. To create awareness among the people it must be
ensured by the District administration that a press release is issued at the
beginning of the month indicating the quantity issued to be FPSs,
entitlement of various categories of the beneficiaries, rates of the
commodities to be charged by the FPS dealer and, so that people can
know their rights and entitlements.
19. To further enlighten the peoples of their rights and entitlements,
pamphlets, posters must be published and widely circulated. Local TV
channels may also be requested to show all these above mentioned
details on their scrolls to create awareness among the people.
20. A Public hearing for PDS on the lines of the Lok Adalat ( Bijlee/ telephone/
water) must be convened at a designated place, time and day every 2/3
months where general public can seek to resolve outstanding issues
pertaining to the PDS. These may include those relating to their category
/ entitlements, non-issuance of the cards, bifurcation of cards, wrong
inclusion of APL, complaints regarding under-weighment etc. PDS Lok
Adalat so constituted should be presided over by District Judge or a
Judicial Officer nominated by him not less than the rank of Additional
Judge and should include the Collector of the District and the District
Supply Officer. A system of accountability must be put in place to ensure
the implementation of decisions taken during these hearings.
22. Distribution of essential commodities under the PDS control order as per
ration card be rationalized. Though it is general understood that each
family as per ration card be issued 35 kgs of foodgrain per month. It is
also generally understood that a family consists of five members. The
Committee has come across certain cases where family consist of more
than five members, in such situation the Unit system be introduced.
24. The Committee feels that there should be some provision of food security
for the migrant labour who come in search of job or work from their
native places temporarily. They could be registered as temporary
residents and provision should be made for providing PDS food grains etc.
to them also.
25. The Committee during the visit to the State came across many cases of
damaged foodgrain supplied to the consumers under PDS. It was
informed by the District Officials that generally the quality is proper
however at some places the grain is damaged because of the non-
availability of storage space with the procurement agencies in Haryana.
They have to store the foodgrains sometimes in the open. Therefore, due
to the non-availability of proper storage space, not only the grain which is
supplied in PDS is of proper quality but also the foodgrain is damaged.
The Committee feels that State Government must take immediate steps
for creating storage space so that the foodgrains is not damaged and the
proper quality is available to the consumer though PDS.
26. The Committee in its report on Delhi and other States has recommended
abolition of APL category. The Committee found that in the State of
Haryana no wheat is distributed to the APL card holders.
27. The Committee is of the view that to began with atta instead of wheat be
distributed to BPL families in urban areas. The distribution of atta also
checks diversion of PDS food grain into black market, however, certain
checks are required considering the self life of atta is 32-45 days.
Committee suggests following measures regarding Atta Distribution:
a) There should be a dedicated flour mill for grinding PDS wheat. In case that
is not immediately possible, it should be ensured that the day on which
the PDS wheat is ground no other wheat will be ground in that flour mill.
Quality of the flour manufactured has to be strictly monitored. Grinding
should be perfect and flour should be of fine consistency;
b) There should be strict vigilance to ensure that no other wheat is mixed up
with PDS wheat;
c) Grinding of PDS wheat should be in a flour mill where there is no human
intervention except at the time of pouring the wheat grain in the machine
and at the time of sealing the atta in right quantity in the bags as it comes
out. The process may include fortification of wheat with proper folic acid,
iron and other nutrients.
d) There should be strict adherence to the time schedule to ensure that the
atta is consumed within the prescribed period and its quality is maintained.
It is necessary that t he atta reaches the FPS within 5 days of its grinding.
A period of 30 days must be given to the beneficiary for consumption of
atta from the date he lifts the atta from the FPS as he is given ration for
one month. Thus, atta must be distributed by the FPS to all the
beneficiaries within 15 days of grinding. In case, some bags are left
undelivered in the FPS after 30 days of grinding, steps should be to
remove the undelivered bags from the FPS.
e) The date of grinding of the wheat and the date on the HDPE bag should
be same and the bags should also contain all other relevant particulars like
the expiry date, batch no., name of the mill, etc.
f) The provisions of Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and Packaging and
Measurement Act should be strictly observed. It is must be understood
that any adulterator can cause great harm to the health of the public and
the responsibility in the case will have to be fixed.
APPENDIX