All fair price shops across Goa will soon receive their long-pending commission, amounting to approximately 1 crore, for food grains supplied during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Government of India has released the payment under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY).
A total of 452 fair price shop owners, represented by the All Goa Consumer Co-operative Society and Fair Price Shop Owners Association, had been demanding the overdue commission. They had also warned of halting food grain collection if their arrears were not settled. The Association had written multiple times to the Director and Joint Secretary of Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, expressing their grievances.
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A government official confirmed to O Heraldo that the Centre has released the commission to be disbursed to fair price shops for distributing food grains to beneficiaries between 2019 and 2022.
“We have received the commission amount and it will be reimbursed to fair price shop owners,” the official said.
Meanwhile, Gandhi Henriques, General Secretary of the Association, said the payment had been pending for several years and that shop owners had been waiting patiently for the release of their dues.
