By Prabhu Mallikarjunan - BANGALORE
Published: 26th August 2013 10:49 AM
Last Updated: 26th August 2013 10:49 AM
- A random check by Express at FPS in Bangalore Urban indicates that a whopping 60 to 70 per cent of the beneficiaries have not got their Rs 1 a kg rice quota. | EPS file photo
The Congress’ flagship Anna Bhagya scheme to give rice at Rs 1 a kg, listed as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s biggest achievement in the last 100 days, has not reached many beneficiaries in the state, if the Bangalore figures are any indication.
Ineffective procurement, distribution and storage of foodgrains at fair price shops (FPS) and wholesale distribution centres has ensured the poor have not got what was promised to them.
State-wide figures on how much rice was lifted in July-August are not available even with the Department of Food and Civil Supplies, but a random check by Express at FPS in Bangalore Urban indicates that a whopping 60 to 70 per cent of the beneficiaries have not got their Rs 1 a kg rice quota.
Kumaraswamy (name changed), 61, an apartment guard and BPL card-holder, went to Fair Price Shop No 81 at Ramamurthy Nagar here thrice last month to collect the 30 kg of rice due to him under the scheme.
He told Express: “My efforts were in vain as the shop remained closed on all my visits. The notice board had no contact information. When I finally met the shop owner, I was asked to present my Aadhaar card to be eligible for the scheme. I do not have one, so I returned empty-handed.”
Officially, the only eligibility needed to get rice under this scheme is the BPL card.
In another incident, the store clerk at FPS No 75 at Siddapura on Whitefield Road here informed a customer that the shop will remain open only from Friday to Sunday as stock was not available throughout the week.
According to norms, the FPS should remain open on all days between 8 am and 12 pm and 4 pm and 8 pm, except Tuesdays.
A random check of the real-time data of two centres in Bangalore also revealed the poor reach of the scheme.
Though the scheme was launched on July 10, according to the Food and Civil Supplies Department’s data for July, only 599 people received 30 kg rice at Bangalore Central Okalipuram depot (FPS No 39), while the remaining 1,787 BPL card-holders had no access to the grains. This works out to about 30 per cent supply.
At FPS No 92 under Bangalore South Tilak Nagar depot, stocks were sufficient for only 1,163 people. The number of BPL card-holders under its purview are double the figure.
At the other centres in Chikmagalur, Tumkur, Gulbarga and Mysore, where data was tested real-time, information itself was not available online. The data was not updated in the correct format. Food and Civil Supplies commissioner Harsh Gupta accepted that the distribution system was ineffective, but said officials were in the process of reviving it. “The PDS had problems even before the scheme was implemented. This cannot be tackled in isolation and it takes time.
By October-end, we will try to set things right. Customers can be assured that the stocks will be picked up before the 10th of every month and available for distribution,” Food and Civil Supplies commissioner Harsh Gupta said.
The Okalipuram and Tilak Nagar data, he said, “could be a discrepancy in the data as not many customers have biometric cards. The data reflected in the system may not be correct”.
A committee headed by R Balasubramaiam, under the Lokayukta, had submitted a report in 2011 exposing the leakages and mismanagement in the PDS in Karnataka. The reported annual economic loss was `1,737.6 crore, and this was much before the Rs 4,200 crore subsidy to the ‘Anna Bhagya’ scheme.
The report also had made recommendations to improve the PDS, which are yet to see the light of day.
(The customer was not willing to reveal his name as he feared he will be put to hardship for reporting the incident)