MARGAO: Two weeks into November, several Fair Price Shop (FPS) owners in Goa complain they have not yet received their monthly stock of food grain from the Civil Supplies Department.
This delay is causing frustration among the beneficiaries who depend on these shops for their rice and other essentials. The shop owners are also upset, citing a lack of communication and incomplete processes from the Department.
Sources reveal that the Civil Supplies Department is grappling with a shortage of grain stocks, which has led to the delivery delay.
The All-Goa Consumer Co-operative Society and Fair Price Shop Owners Association have also received complaints about the delay in the delivery order issuance.
Typically, fair price shops should have received their stock by the end of the previous month or in the first week of the current month. However, even as 17 days have passed into November, several FPS are still awaiting the delivery of their stock from the Department godown. “We are still not able to distribute food grains as the truck chit has not been generated yet for a few shops,” one of the FPS owners told O Heraldo.
In Salcete, some fair price shops resorted to issuing hand-written delivery orders on November 16 due to technical issues with the electronic system. Reports indicate that this makeshift solution was prompted by both technical glitches and a shortage of food grain in stock, intensifying challenges for both shop owners and beneficiaries.
Gandhi Henrique, General Secretary of the All-Goa Consumer Co-operative Society and Fair Price Shop Owners Association, acknowledged the situation and mentioned receiving calls from concerned shop owners awaiting stock from the godown.
Earlier this year, O Heraldo had reported about the supply of rice infested with maggots to FPS across Salcete.
