It is known that dealers play a key role in the timely distribution of ration provided by the government. Meanwhile, arrangements are being made for the door delivery of ration from January in AP. However, the government hasn’t decided regarding the future of 29,783 dealers who are operating in AP, as they are reluctant to do door delivery. This is why the government has decided to have door-to-door delivery of ration through volunteers. Vehicles are also being procured for the same.
End of Dealers system?
Appointing a ration dealer for every 700 households will enable timely delivery of rations to the beneficiaries on a monthly basis. Recently, the AP government decided to supply ration goods directly to beneficiaries. But there is a small twist. They will send the rice to the dealers if they give the DDs in advance to the civil supplies department. Thus, each dealer invests two lakhs and delivers the goods to the beneficiaries. With dealers sacked and the responsibility handed over to the volunteers, who will give the DDs to the Civil Supplies Department is the big question. Already the volunteers have not been paid salaries for the last five months. If they are asked to spend lakhs of rupees and distribute rations, they are more likely to quit the job. The AP government has not yet taken any decision on this.
Dealer to volunteer
The government is paying Rs. 20 crore every month to dealers as commission for distributing rations in AP. For this, dealers have to pay DDs to the Civil Supplies Department in advance. The system may not run without dealers. That is why the government plans to bring in rations from the Civil Supplies Department and hand over to the dealers, who will in turn hand over to volunteers.
If this happens, dealers and volunteers will have to distribute the ration together. A new OTP message system similar to that of gas companies is being set up to provide regular ration to every family.
Vehicles taken through loans from 56 corporations
Recently the AP government set up 56 BC corporations and appointed governing bodies. The government plans to take loans through those corporations and buy the vehicles needed for ration distribution. It seems that the government is planning to hand over the vehicles to the volunteers and ensure that the ration is given to every family in the first week of every month.
