Centre orders streamlining of PDS in Arunachal

Itanagar, May 16: Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu has declared the Public Distribution System(PDS) in Arunachal would soon be streamlined, as the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution(CAFPD) has issued an order to the state for resolving all pending issues with the PDS since 2003.

Official sources here today informed that the chief minister, who had considered the PDS problem as one of his priorities, was happy to receive the order as it would end the sufferings of the people, in the remote areas, who were solely dependent on the PDS for essential commodities.

The ministry stated in its order that the Food Corporation of India(FCI) and the state government would ensure immediate transport of the foodgrains to the Principal Distribution Centres(PDCs) as per the allocation and requirements for distribution to the targeted beneficiaries.

Moreover, the FCI would take immediate action for opening six new base depots at Tawang, Sepp, Ziro, Along, Anini and Tezu, with the state government providing requisite administrative support, such as providing staff on deputation, identifying premises and quick transportation of food grains to these base depots and the respective PDCs.

Relieving the PDS contractors whose bills, running into crores, were pending for the last few years, the FCI would provisionally release Hill Transport Subsidy (HTS) payments for transportation of foodgrains from the base depots to the PDCs.

However, Head Load Transportation (HLT) would be admissible only for the Damin and Vijaynagar PDCs, officials added.

The distance from the nearest base depot and the extent of head load carriage would be jointly worked out by the FCI and the state government, the order stated.

UNI