QUEPEM: Fair Price Shop owners (FPS) from Quepem on Tuesday submitted a memorandum to the Inspector of Civil Supplies Department listing out their grievances and also endorsed their support to the one-day closure call given by the All India Association of Fair Price Shop Owners.
They raised four major grievances related primarily to government’s failure to provide timely emoluments due to them and also the lethargic functioning of the department. In the first place, they pointed out that while government has announced free ration quota to “Priority House Hold” (PHH)and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) card holders for five years, the commission payable to FPS owners is not paid in time. This results in the FPS owners being deprived of having cash to purchase the material required to be distributed to the card holders when they need it and thereby the functioning of FPS is adversely affected and hence demanded that the commission be paid every month atleast.
Secondly, they pointed out that while the government has cancelled many ration cards due to various reasons, issuance of new ration cards is not being done even though people have applied for the same as a result of which their turnover is very low making it difficult for them to function. They also pointed out that Common Service Centres (CSC) have started but as due to digitalisation process introduced through them and as the customer base depends upon the population, this service has proved to be more of a hurdle than benefit. Lastly, they pointed out that the commission payable to them during the pandemic years back, is still not paid and demanded to know whether they will be paid that commission or not. The memorandum submitted was signed by around 20 FPS owners from the taluka including those from Assolda, Avedem, Curchorem, Quepem and Molcornem.
