Distribution of ration cards in new Telangana districts completed

Less than two months into the formation of districts, the civil supplies department has completed the distribution of ration cards among all the 31 districts. Hyderabad stands first with more than 5.77 lakh ration cards holders while Asifabad district has the least number of ration cards holders with just 1.37 lakh cards.

With the division of ration cards, the entire system of Public Distribution System (PDS) has been brought in tune with the administration of new districts in a record time.

As far as Ranga Reddy, Hyderabad and Medchal districts are concerned, orders would be released on Tuesday due to the introduction of modified E-PoS in these districts.

In all 1,40,538 MTs of rice, 69,54,000 packets of sugar, 69,72,029 kgs of salt have been earmarked to be distributed among 69.73 lakh card holders for the month of Dec. Before the bifurcation of districts, 85 lakh cards were in circulation in the 10 districts.

The commissioner gave clear instructions to officials to distribute the items properly and in time without any delay.

Civil supplies corporation in TS to raise Rs 3000 cr loan

Due to dearth of funds, the state government allowed the civil supplies department to raise Rs 3,000 crore loan to buy paddy.The decrease in revenues of the state government due to demonetisation and the subsequent impact on trade affected paddy procurement this season as civil supplies department procures around 20,000 tonnes paddy every season.

The decision to raise loan was taken in the maiden governing council meeting of Telangana civil supplies corporation.Later, the department issued orders permitting the corporation to avail cash credit limit of Rs 3,000 crore from Corporation Bank, Indusind Bank, Andhra Bank or any other bank.

The orders said the state government will stand guarantee for the cash credit limit.

Meanwhile, the governing council meeting of the corporation also decided to further strengthen the corporation by filling the vacant posts and appoint staff on temporary basis waiting for the state government’s nod.

Civil supplies commissioner C.V.Anand conducted a  meeting and discussed at length 15 major issues including the financial position of the corporation. The meeting decided to set up enforcement, IT, finance and technical wings and recruit accountants and other technical staff. It also ratified the new logo of the corporation. The enforcement wing will have retired police and revenue officials. It was decided to appoint a financial advisor to the corporation to avoid financial mismanagement.

Rs 120 cr saved in the purchase of rice

The Civil Supplies Corporation has convinced the rice millers to supply fine rice varieties at Rs.30.50 per kilogram to welfare hostels and Mid Day Meals programme, thereby saving Rs.40 crore for the exchequer, a press release from the Civil Supplies Department claimed on Tuesday. Further, Rs.80 crore would be saved in the purchase of rice for public distribution, the note said.

Old stocks of steamed rice, BPT-5204, Sona Masuri and Samba Masuri varieties will be supplied for the next three months. Though new stocks have arrived, the new rice will be sticky till it becomes old, the note said.

The corporation has also persuaded the millers to purchase paddy at not less than Rs.1,800 per quintal, the note said. A total of six lakh tonnes will be supplied by millers who were also brought around by the corporation to supply at Rs.2,400 per quintal for Grade-A and Rs. 2,350 per quintal for ordinary variety, inclusive of market fee and gunny bags. This will save Rs.80 crore of public money.

Automate Ration Shops, Install CCTVs In Godowns: C.V.Anand

Fair Price Shops are proposed to be fully automated with ePOS (electronic point of sale) machines in Telangana, where plans are also afoot to install CCTVs in godowns, as the government looks to improve the public distribution system.The state's Civil Supplies Department has floated a tender for selection of system integrator for implementing Aadhaar-enabled PDS in the state, which has a total of 17,200 FPS.

Commissioner of Civil Supplies, C.V.Anand said the vendor, who would implement the project on a Build-Own-Operate mode, is expected to be finalised next month, and added that the automation is proposed to be completed in the state by February.

As of now, FPS level transactions are being conducted manually in the state, except in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) area, department officials said.

CCTVs are being planned in each of the 171 godowns (mandal-level stock points), and have them connected to Joint Collector's and the Commissioner's offices adding that a project report in this regard is being prepared.

All civil supplies transport vehicles are being monitored through GPS at the head-office, he said.

The department also planned to send bulk SMS to FPS dealers and ration card holders on availability and movement of stocks. A WhatsApp number would be soon be made available to the public through which they can lodge complaints. This is in addition to other complaint channels, Anand said.

For example, a ration-card holder can send photos of closed FPS when it's supposed to be open, he explained.With online procurement and supply management systems already in place in Telangana, the decision to demonetise Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes did not have any impact on farmers as money is being transferred to their accounts, Anand said.

"Telangana is one of the few states where 100 per cent Aadhaar seeding has been done for the ration cards. We are in a very good position to leverage the benefits of e-POS machines and Aadhaar-based transactions. There are a total of 2.75 crore PDS beneficiaries in the state," he said.

Officials said the IT-based initiatives would ensure that PDS benefits are delivered only to intended beneficiaries, prevent diversion of essential commodities and improve transparency and accountability in operations.

Legal Metrology Department to adopt latest technology

The Legal Metrology Department of Telanagana State is going to adopt latest available technology to make it more dynamic and fruitful. ‘The efforts are on in this direction and to start with we are equipping 45 employees with laptops in the first phase’, declared C.V. Anand, Commissioner, Civil Supplies Corporation and Legal Metrology Department while reviewing the performance of the Metrology Department in Civil Supplies Bhavan on Saturday. DLMOs (District legal Metrology Officers) participated from all the 31 districts.

The meeting discussed about the jurisdiction of officers and their duties. The Commissioner clarified that the officers can respond on 43 trading issues while emphasizing their focus on frauds in weights and measures, selling more than MRP, irregularities in petrol pumps, Gold jewellery shops, paddy purchase centres etc. He had also indicated to earn almost two times more revenue if the stamp fee is raised.

While providing a direction to the department, he said “ Now all 31 districts are having a DLMO each and as such the jurisdiction of DLMO is amply reduced as districts are now smaller comparatively. This should reflect more here after on the efficiency of DLMO. All the field officers henceforth should be pro active in the discharge of their duties. From now on targets would be fixed to each District Officer, which helps in the increase of revenue. Every day a report should reach the HQ on the performance of each unit. “Here after, all the cases registered by DLMOs and other important information would be put online, said the Commissioner. He also informed the meeting that a separate manual would be put in place shortly for the department.

C.V.Anand suspends corrupted employees

Cracking down on corrupt staff members, Civil Supplies Department Commissioner CV Anand suspended four temporary employees on charges of corruption.In a meeting held at his office with district managers and technical staff on Friday, Commissioner Anand expressed dissatisfaction over the allegations faced by some employees in the Quality Control Wing.

Asking the employees to not indulge in corrupt practices, the commissioner warned of stringent action, including dismissal of employees from duties. “The government will not hesitate to sack the corrupt staff, for the betterment of public,” he warned. The employees removed from services were MSA Saleem (Karimangar), J Bhasker Reddy (Nalgonda), V Venkata Ramana (Khammam) and A Balreddy, all worked in the Quality Control Wing. It is high time for the employees of all the wings to change their attitude, he said.

Farmers have expressed dissatisfaction about the payments of their production. The staff were asked to take necessary steps to help the farmers in paddy purchasing centres, the commissioner said, asking the officers to give letters for delay in online payments to the notice of head office.

He also assured of recruitment in technical and accounting departments, to overcome the staff shortage

Cash transfer to farmers an instant hit

The new system of online cash transfer to farmers within two days introduced by the Civil Supplies Corporation has helped it procure 4,500 metric tonnes of paddy for the Kharif season; and, that too, in just a week after the procurement centres opened. 

The Corporation, which has already opened 400 centres, most of them in places like Nalgonda and Karimnagar districts, has plans to open more than 2,000 centres throughout the State for the first time during the season.

According to officials, previously the cash payment to farmers used to be delayed for days on end, and sometimes even months, discouraging them from selling rice to the government. However, recently a decision was taken at a high-level meeting to provide them MSP (Minimum Support Price) within a couple of days of procurement. 

Apart from introducing this mechanism, orders were issued to maintain procurement centres with all the equipment ready needed for smooth functioning. An officer of the Deputy Tahsildar cadre is also being appointed as the validation officer at each of the centres being currently operated. 

“We began conducting awareness amongst ryots about farming activity in the districts, production, and the market position. Handbills and posters have been spread out as part of awareness and precautions needed to be taken by the farmers,” said an official. 

The government had announced Rs 1,470 for ordinary quality and Rs 1,510 for ‘Grade A’ per quintal of paddy. For this Kharif season, the Corporation has targeted procurement of 30 lakh metric tonnes of paddy, through more than 2,000 centres. Last year, during the same season, in all 1,671 centres were opened.

The procured paddy is being immediately supplied to the rice mills for Custom Milling Rice (CMR). Interestingly, within the set deadline, 220 metric tonnes of CMR was received from the milling stations by the Corporation, which was earlier delayed by months.

It may be mentioned here that during a recent meeting, Commissioner of Civil Supplies CV Anand had stressed that CMR should be returned before 30 days of delivery of paddy. “As per the norms prescribed by the Central government, CMR should be handed back within 15 days. But owing to the ground level problems, we have extended it by another 15 days,” he explained