Ration shops turn mere rice shops

Hyderabad: Ration shops, which are under public distribution system supplying various commodities, are now confined to selling only rice to the ration card holders, which is actually a retrograde step. Now the ration card holders are compelled to purchase other material such as oil, wheat, kerosene, sugar and red gram in the open market. At the same time, the ration shop dealers complain that the mere 20-paise commission on the sale of per kg rice is not at all viable for them.

The ration shops used to supply three kg sugar, 30kg wheat, three kg edible oil, 10 litres kerosene, two kg wheat flour, and one kg red gram along with other commodities. Now the Telangana government had reduced the ration shops to selling rice, sugar and kerosene. Still, the supply of kerosene and sugar were only nominal. No one knows when the stocks would be made available.

Even if they are made available, they are not much of use to the poor. The ration shops which used to supply three kilos of sugar are now issuing only half a kilo. Likewise, people used to get 10 litres of kerosene per month which was reduced to one litre. At a time when the essential commodities are hitting the roof, the poor people complain as to how they could purchase red gram for Rs 200 per kg in the open market.

Recently, the Central government stopped supply of sugar. It is not clear whether the state government would bear the extra expenditure to supply sugar to the ration shops. The existing stock of sugar in the godowns might last till April end. Moreover, a ban has been imposed on the use of kerosene in the metropolitan cities. The 20,000 families who use kerosene in the twin cities would be given cooking gas connections under Deepam scheme and the supply of kerosene would be stopped from June 1.

The decision to sell only rice in the ration shops hits not only the poor but the ration shop dealers too. There are 17,159 ration shops throughout the state and these dealers used to survive on the income with the supply of nine commodities in their shops. They used to get 22 paise on kg sugar, 18 paise on kg wheat, 20 paise on kg rice, 50 paise on edible oil, 25 paise on litre kerosene, 55 paise on kg red gram, one rupee on kg wheat flour and one rupee on kg salt. The dealer used to earn Rs 20 per ration card per month.

Now these ration shop dealers earn hardly Rs 5 per card after they are limited to sell only rice. The overhead expenditure like transport, electricity bill, shop rent, licence fee, staff salaries has been costing them enormously, says Venkata Ramana, president of ration shop dealers association. The dealers appealed to the State government to consider them as government employees providing them with ESI, PF and other facilities as it has become impossible to eke out living on commissions.

On the lines of Tamil Nadu government, the government should bear the salaries of the ration shop dealers, they demanded. They also demanded that the ration shops should be converted into mini super bazaars like they did in the states of Gujarat, West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala and supply commodities at subsidized rates t the people.

By Naresh Sankepally