FP shop dealers forcing consumers to buy goods

Hyderabad: Ration dealers across the city are compelling the general public to purchase other commodities and also misleading the citizens.

The dealers have been selling the commodities at hiked prices. The consumers are forced to buy all the products which are sold there like dal, salt, oil, wheat and kerosene.

Then only they are distributing rice at Re 1. For instance, salt packet which costs Rs 5 is sold for Rs 8 to Rs 11.

According to Department of Consumers’ Affairs, Food and Civil Supplies, every month they supply 65,143.26 quintals of rice, 2,93,800 packets of wheat, 14,428 kgs of sugar, 2,32,553 litres of kerosene and 32,074 packets of salt to the dealers in the city.

The government of India has stopped distributing sugar from May. There have been irregular supplies of other commodities like salt and wheat. The government purchase subsidy rice at the cost of Rs 27 per kg and distribute it to consumers at the cost of Re 1.

S Vijaya Kumari, a consumer from Begumpet said, ``We do not know when the ration shop will be open and the dealer is selling the salt packet at the cost of Rs 11 while Rs 5 is marked on the packet. She said kerosene is being sold for Rs 35 per litre when the government price is Rs 20. The dealer keeps the good quality of rice with him and supplies poor quality of rice to consumers.”

B Vijaya Lakshmi, a ration shop owner at Brahmanwadi in Begumpet said, ``We do not sell any product for extra price what people are telling is not true; it is a false assumption.”

District Civil Supply Officer MK Rathod denied the loot of ration shop dealers.

He said in order to curb the irregularities, the department has introduced bio-metric system and the consumer data will be updated on the official website.

"If we get to know such kind of issues we will take a serious action against the dealer and they can’t force the consumers to purchase all the products.” he said.

By: Sravanthi Sanam