Ranchi, March 27: Reviewing the PDS Department, Chief Secretary Raj Bala Verma today said that the state government is committed to procurement of paddy from farmers of the state.
She said that paddy has been produced in ample quantity and farmers should be motivated for selling paddy at the authorized purchase centres. �A door to door campaign should be run with the help of panchayat sevak and krishak mitra so that farmers can reach to the purchase center,� she added.
The CS said that the list of all the registered farmers should be made available to panchayat sevaks and krishak mitras so that they can contact the concerned farmers and inspire them for paddy procurement.
The krishak mitras will be given promotion amount for procuring 50 quintals of paddy. 1.2 lakh metric ton paddy has been procured and 65 thousand farmers have been sent SMS out of 90 thousand registered farmers. She said that mill owners should be contacted and grains should be lifted from the packed godowns of the concerned districts.
Verma directed the PDS department authorities to work in the direction of providing each tribal family 35 kilos rice at their doorsteps. 35 kg packets should be made by sakhi mandals for all PDSs at block level so that they can be distributed through Panchayat sevaks. She directed them to make the LDM and BSO responsible for the work. Panchayat sevaks will be given Rs. 20 per bag as promotion amount from the department.
The CS said that all ration cards which have not been linked with Aadhar number will become useless from 5th April onwards. Aadhar based ration card will be considered for food grains by the PDS outlets. Nearly 3 lakh ration cards have been declared invalid. Kerosene will be distributed through DBT from 7th March.
The CS said that PDS outlets will work as mini banks. Electricity bills, rail tickets, cash deposits and cash withdrawals can be done at PDS outlets. For this, the PDS owners are being trained. She said that they should be trained through DEGS.
PDS Secretary Vinay Kumar Choubey and other officers were present in the meeting.