A CORRESPONDENT
NAGAON: The State Government is set to allocate foodgrains like wheat to tea garden management, according to a recent decision. The All Assam Fair Price Shop Dealers' Association (AAFPSDA) has expressed high concern over this decision and has submitted a memorandum to Prahlad Venkatesh Joshi, Union Minister, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Government of India.
The association stated that the tea garden labourers were already beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and any separate or additional channel of distribution for the same entitlement undermines the uniformity and integrity of the public distribution system. The proposed mechanism effectively bypasses the established network of fair price shops across the state, causing severe economic hardship to thousands of FPS dealers and eroding the statutory framework for transparent and accountable distribution under NFSA, stated AAFPSDA.
The association claimed that any diversion of NFSA entitlement to private or parallel channels would be contrary to the spirit and provisions of the NFSA Act 2013. The organization cited a directive from the Government of Assam (Order No. FSA/6/2006/PT/678, dated December 18, 2014), which categorically states that there will be no allotment of wheat or rice to tea garden management or associations. The current proposal or decision would be a clear and serious violation of these binding instructions, it said.
The organization urged the government to carry out due consultation with stakeholders and adhere to the principles of NFSA to avoid grave injustice to fair price shop dealers across the state. Allocating scarce resources to a specific group through a parallel system would amount to discrimination and create operational anomalies, the organization added.
Also Read: Sonitpur hosts FPS Sanmilan, Minister Kaushik Rai reviews fair price shop operations