Licences of 446 PDS dealers cancelled in Haryana

Chandigarh, Dec 6 (UNI) The Haryana Food and Supplies Department has cancelled licences of 446 dealers for committing various irregularities in public distribution system (PDS) during first six months of the current financial year.

Stating this here today, Deputy Chief Minister Chander Mohan said an intensive campaign to improve the functioning of the fair price shops in the state had been undertaken during which the department had forfeited security of 1207 erring dealers amounting to over Rs 8.01 lakh during the period under report.

He said as many as 38 cases had also been registered with the police against the dealers for indulging in malpractices in the distribution of essential commodities and 22 persons had been arrested during this period.

He said a network of 9586 fair price shops, 2684 in urban areas and 6905 in rural areas, were supplying essential commodities at reasonable rates to the residents of the state.

Out of these, 77 shops were located near the industrial area for the benefit of the industrial workers and 22 near school hostels for ensuring supply of essential commodities to the students.

UNI