At least 2,370 new ration shops to come up across Bengal

MP | 8 Sept 2023 | Kolkata: The state Food and Supplies department is going to set up 2370 new ration shops across Bengal. 

The exercise of ‘rationalisation’ of the shops started in September 2022 to ease the hardship faced by a section of ration dealers in reaching out to the huge number of beneficiaries under their jurisdiction and at the same time prevent crowding at shops. “There are 20408 ration shops across the state currently. 

The total vacancy of shops approved is 2370, out of which 1846 are fresh vacancies. 

The rationalisation exercise has been done based on the geographical condition of a specific area,” state Food and Supplies minister Rathin Ghosh said at the state Assembly on Thursday. 

As per the matrix of the state Food and Supplies department, Rs 50000 working capital is mandatory to set up a ration shop. The godown size should be 300 sq feet and office space should be 100 sq feet in case of Panchayat area. 

In the case of Kolkata, godown size of 150 sq feet and office space of 50 sq feet or a total of 200 sq feet (godown and office space combined ) will suffice for the dealership. “The standard maintained by the department is to have 4000-5000 customers for each fair price shop. 

However, it was found that in some cases, the number was 3000 while in some other cases it was over 12000. So, it was essential to remove this disparity and maintain a standard that will benefit the customers as well as the ration dealers,” a senior official of the state Food and Supplies department said. 

During the question-answer session at the state Assembly one of the MLAs urged the minister to look into the issue of Aila-hit families facing inordinate delay in getting their share of 16 kg ration per month after the death of the head of the family. 

“In case of death of the family head, one of the family members has to approach the block inspector(ration) office in the district and apply along with a death certificate that ration should be provided in the name of a particular (new) family head. 

However, with allegations of delay, we will surely consider simplification of the process so that there is no delay in supply to a particular family for this reason,” Ghosh said. 

There are around 2.98 lakh beneficiaries at present mainly hailing from Minakhan, Sandeshkhali in North 24-Parganas and Gosaba and other parts of Sunderbans in South 24-Parganas. 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/at-least-2370-new-ration-shops-to-come-up-across-bengal-532105