It has come to light that sub-standard rice full of maggots, fungus and mites was being distributed to ration card holders from Fair Price Shops (FPS) in Salcete taluka. However, the issue is not limited to Salcete alone, as the situation is the same throughout the State since rice brought from such outlets usually has mites.
The rice also contains stones and hence, it has to be used only after washing and cleaning it properly. Few years ago, this was viewed as ‘common’. Sometime back the rice supplied was of good quality, but lately things are back to square one. People are being supplied rice that has fungus, but, shockingly, the government is feigning ignorance.
Since the stock has to be stored for a long duration, it is expected for it to go somewhat bad, but it is also necessary to take precautions to avoid such a situation.
Earlier, farmers would store paddy in a unique way which would keep it in good condition for a longer period. In villages, paddy is stored only after boiling it. This rice would be used till the arrival of the next monsoon. The government too, should take care in this manner and the current situation has arised owing to ignorance of the authorities.
This poses risk to peoples’ lives and the government should take it seriously as the situation is not limited to only one or two fair price shops but almost all such outlets in the State.
After bringing the incident to the fore, the similar condition of shops in Vasco also came to light, and one wonders as to why the government is insensitive towards such issues.
There was a time when people were dependent majorly on such outlets for rice, wheat, sugar, etc, and in villages one would witness long queues outside of these shops. This system was beneficial to the poor people and they were able to live peacefully. Many families were able to at least feed themselves twice a day. Such was the importance of this system. It is not as if the government started fair price shops recently, but they have been in existence right from the since Liberation.
The newly elected government post-Liberation founded these shops. After taking the reins of governance in his hands on December 20, 1963, Goa’s first Chief Minister Bahusaheb Bandodkar opened a staggering 168 fair price shops within six months of coming to power. The intention behind it was for people to buy essentials at reasonable prices.
To avoid mismanagement, he handed over the system to co-operative societies which led to stabilisation of rates of food grains. The system which was an integral part of peoples’ lives at one point, slowly changed over the course of time.
The outlets today are not entirely in the hands of co-operative societies. Some are still owned by societies, while some are controlled by individuals. People slowly stopped buying from these shops as their financial conditions improved. The ones who were still buying, stopped due to the sub-par quality of the grains. As expected, there are very few left who still buy from ration shops. This gave rise to shop owners increasingly selling the leftover grains in black market. An incident of such grain being sold in black market in Karnataka had come to the surface. The government did try to cover it all up but the fact remains that the authorities have not paid enough attention to this system. To top it all, the government has declared that families with income exceeding Rs 5 lakh per annum will not be eligible to buy from these shops.
The authorities even cancelled ration cards of these families because according to them, these people do not need affordable food grains. As much as the government is right about that, it is also right that people are being supplied with spoilt grain. There was no need for the government to cancel their ration cards, but the government’s behaviour is beyond anyone’s comprehension. At least now, the government must ensure quality control over fair price shops.
