MARGAO: Citizens from across Salcete on Tuesday termed the Civil Supplies Department’s show cause notice issued to the owner of Fair Price Shop No. 90 at Davorlim as unfair. The Civil Supplies Department headed by Minister Ravi Naik has reacted to O Heraldo’s investigative reports on the presence of maggot-infested rice in shops by dismissively saying it was “old news”. Now, his own department has acted against a Fair Price Shop owner (shop No. 90 located at Davorlim) for “distributing: maggot-infested rice, supplied by the department itself.
Xaxtikars in one voice said this was done to silence the voices of those addressing their grievances and raising concerns over the supply of maggot-infested rice under the public distribution system (PDS).
Speaking to O Heraldo, several citizens including a few who run the fair price shops across the taluka expressed anxiety.
A fair price shop owner informed O Heraldo that he has received clean rice for August, but expressed shock that they are being targeted by the department for no fault of theirs. The maggot-infested rice issue could have been avoided if the Civil Supplies Department had supplied the fair price shop owners with clean rice to distribute to the beneficiaries, they said.
The notice surprisingly charges the owner of “continuing to distribute the maggot-infested rice to the beneficiaries despite instructions”.
Since then the said shop has been shut thereby depriving the beneficiaries of their rightful quota of food grains.
An in-charge of a fair price shop in Salcete told O Heraldo that they feel that the show cause notice issued is only to create fear among others so that they don’t expose the management of the department concerned by sharing the information with media persons.
“What is the fault of the owner of fair price shop No. 90, when the department supplied the maggot-infested rice? Maybe they want to wash their hands and create the situation among the public that the fair price shop owners are to be blamed for infested rice,” said Pedro Colaso, a Davorlim resident.
