Duare Ration: From Oct, 50% of shops to be part of pilot project

Kolkata: The pilot project for Duare Ration (Ration at Doorstep) that was rolled out from September 16 by the state Food & Supplies department at 15 per cent ration shops is being extended to 35 per cent more shops from October.

"We are extending the pilot project to 35 per cent ration shops which means that from October onwards 50 per cent of the shops will be under Duare Ration. The piloting had began with 15 per cent of the shops and the results have been satisfactory which prompted us to bring more ration shops under the project's ambit," Food and Supplies minister Rathin Ghosh said.

More than 10,000 odd among 20,261 ration shops in the state will come under the project from October.

Ghosh said that the piloting will be done for three months from September till November and the plugging of gaps if any will be done during this period. "This will help us in hassle-free roll out of the scheme in all the 20,261 ration shops involving about 10.30 crore beneficiaries when the project is officially launched," he added.

The ration dealers have been asked to divide all beneficiaries under their respective jurisdiction into 16 clusters and designate a fixed day of a week of each month for distribution of foodgrains at each cluster.

The plan is to have a fixed distribution day in a month from 1st Tuesday till 4th Friday for all the 16 clusters. Dates of the month may vary but day must be kept the same for each cluster.

All Saturdays will be earmarked for distribution from the ration shops so that people who have been missed or have the desire to collect food grains from the shop due to any urgent reason can do so. The second half of Sunday would be reserved to distribute food grains in Duare Ration mode for clusters which may have been missed due to holidays or inclement weather conditions.

Entire ration for one month period should be delivered to the beneficiary at one go.

The department has brought out a detailed guideline regarding execution of the pilot project for October and has circulated it among the ration dealers.