New Rules Come into force

Civil Supplies corporation is taking crucial steps to prevent diversion of PDS Rice. Government is spending 23 rupees per kilo and distributing it to the poor people at just one rupee per kilo through ration dealers.

Till date the enforcement and vigilance teams are registering cases on the ration dealers, active black marketers   who are indulging in diverting PDS rice. But after detailed enquiry  it has been brought to the notice of the CS department that few card holders are also selling the rice at 10/- per kilo in open market. As there are no predefined rules about the action to be initiated against the card holders, the criminals are not getting punished in courts.

Therefore the Telangana Government modified the control order 17(introduced in 2008) by adding clauses D,E which allows to register criminal cases on card holders too.Apart from that ration card will be cancelled and fine will be imposed.The new control order will reduce diversion of PDS rice.

Preview of Change in Millers Attitude

TS Civil Supplies Dept. gets five awards

Various electronic initiatives by the Telangana Civil Supplies Department in procurement and supply have been chosen for ‘Skoch Award’ in five segments, which were given away at the 45 National Skoch Summit at HICC on Thursday.

The five awards were for the EPoS, ePDS, Supply Chain Management, Online Procurement Management System, and grievance redress projects, which were part of the 100 projects chosen countrywide, a press release informed on Thursday.

The EPoS or Electronic Point of Sale system is being implemented in 1,545 fair price shops in the Greater Hyderabad region, which has resulted in 30 per cent savings in the supplies.

ePDS is to register the details of supplies delivered to the shops, while supply chain management rules out the diversion of supplies through online linkage, the note said.

Online procurement management system will ensure payment of minimum support price within 48 hours, while the grievance redress mechanism has been set up as part of the Food Security Act, it informed.

Commissioner, Civil Supplies, C.V. Anand, expressed happiness and said the use of information technology will be extended for curbing irregularities.

Government puts Millers on Notice

Rice millers in the State have been set a deadline of September 30 to supply to Civil Supplies Department 1.81 lakh tonnes of rice worth Rs 482 crore which is yet to be delivered by them as part of custom milling.

The government had procured 23 lakh tonnes of foodgrains from procurement centres in 2015-16 and handed over the stock to millers for custom milling. The millers milled the grains and produced 14 lakh tonnes of rice which was supplied to the government. As much as 1.81 lakh tonnes of rice was still due from them, Civil Supplies Commissioner C.V. Anand was informed by departmental officials at a meeting.

Mr. Anand asked them to take steps to get the stocks by September 30. He also directed cases against millers who defaulted in custom milling. Commissioner addressed letters to Joint Collectors of all districts furnishing names of millers who did not return the rice. He asked them to take steps to get the remaining quantity of rice from millers. 

Call for fresh tenders for super fine rice

The State government has decided to call for fresh tenders for super fine quality rice being supplied to hostels and for mid-day meal scheme to schools.Though the government had called for tenders earlier, the process could not be taken forward as the bidders were not willing to supply the rice for less than Rs 40 a kg. The government is insisting that they supply for Rs 37 a kg. 

According to CV Anand, Commissioner, Civil Supplies there are wide range of varieties of ‘super fine quality rice’ starting from Rs 19 to Rs 55, but it wants best quality at reasonable price, hence it proposes to go for fresh tenders. 

He said the department would give clear specifications to the bidders, so that the quality of rice before and after cooking remains the same. All the players would be invited for discussion and open tenders would be called again.

On the other hand, the department would also set up a ‘Task Force’, consisting of retired senior officials, who would report to the higher officials towards curbing corruption within the department. The officials engaged for quality check would be responsible for the quality of the rice during the process of procurement. They shall also regularly inspect the warehouses and MLS (Mandal Level Stocklist) points, Anand added.