MillenniumPost
Bengal

Duare Ration scheme: At least five crore people benefitted so far

KOLKATA: After the announcement of Duare Ration scheme, the state government has provided ration to around 5 crore beneficiaries till date.

The Duare Ration scheme was rolled out in November and within a month around 5 crore beneficiaries had received the ration at their doorstep.

The state government also provided financial assistance of Rs 21,000 to ration dealers in the state to purchase vehicles to deliver ration at the doorstep of the beneficiaries.

Senior officials of the state government said: "We have urged the ration dealers to expedite the implementation of the Duare Ration scheme. The district magistrates have been informed to monitor the process so that every beneficiary gets the adequate amount of ration they are entitled to. If any complaint is lodged by any beneficiary, the district administration coordinates with the respective ration dealers and sorts out the issues."

A senior official of the state government said: "The district administration has identified 50,000 complaints from the inter-state ration facility centres that have been set up in each district, where beneficiaries can lodge complaints if there is any discrepancy in the delivery system."

After the scheme was announced, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said about 10.4 crore people would benefit from the scheme.

A senior official of the state government said: "In order to expedite the delivery process, which otherwise may be delayed, if the dealer visited each and every house, while delivering ration under 'Duare Ration' programme. Dealers have been asked to park their vehicles in a locality and all people residing within 500 meters will collect their food grains. The ration dealer will have to intimate consumers through SMS about the date and time of delivery and in case a person fails to collect his allotted food grains on that day, then he or she should be allowed to collect his quota from another locality."

According to senior officials of the state government to help ration dealers to undertake the delivery process smoothly, the state government has allowed engagement of two staff per ration dealer to assist him in loading and unloading the ration.

As there are 21 lakh ration dealers across the state, a total of 42 lakh staff would be engaged. Each staff will be paid a salary of Rs 10,000 per month, of which Rs 5,000 will be paid by the state government and the remaining 50 per cent by the respective ration dealer.

This will cost an additional Rs 160 crore to the state exchequer.

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