The Punjab Cabinet on Monday puts its stamp of approval on various announcements made by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, including rolling out a doorstep ration delivery scheme from October 1, amending the relevant law for limiting only one pension for an MLA, and recruitment against over 26,000 posts in state government departments.
The Cabinet, in a meeting chaired by Mann, also approved the disbursement of Rs 41.89 crore to cotton growers in Muktsar district.
The council of minister also gave approval to an amnesty scheme for small transporters whereby they will be able to pay motor vehicle tax within the next three months without any penalty.
Most of these decisions had already been announced by the nearly one-and-a-half-month old Aam Aadmi Party government.
Fulfilling the commitment to deliver ration to the people at doorsteps seamlessly, the Punjab Cabinet Monday approved the roll out of home delivery of ration from October 1. The scheme will be implemented across the state in three phases.
The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
For the distribution, the entire state has been divided into eight zones and the service shall commence in one zone in the first phase, in two zones in the second phase and in the remaining five zones in the last and third phase.
A government statement said that the scheme would be available to every beneficiary enrolled under NFSA. Any beneficiary, who wishes to physically collect his entitlement of wheat from a Fair Price Shop (FPS), shall have an option of opting out through a suitable IT intervention freely available to him. The delivery cycle of distribution shall now be changed from quarterly cycle to monthly cycle.
The home delivery service shall introduce the concept of Mobile Fair Price Shops (MPS). The MPS shall be a transport vehicle, preferably fitted with GPS facility and cameras to livestream the handing over of atta to the beneficiary. It shall mandatorily have the facility of weighing scales in order to satisfy the customer about the weight of the atta before it is delivered. All mandatory requirements of biometric verification, handing over of printed weight slip to the beneficiary, etc. shall be provided by the MPS.
All MPS licences shall be issued by the Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs. An MPS shall enjoy a status similar to the ‘Fair Price Shop’ under the NFSA. Only MPS shall offer the facility of home delivery of Atta. FPS shall continue to offer the existing facility of delivery of wheat to the beneficiary, and the beneficiary will have to visit the FPS and physically collect the entitled quantity of wheat.
Portability between any MPS and FPS shall continue to be allowed. Where the beneficiary has chosen the facility of home delivery of atta, it shall also automatically imply that the beneficiary has chosen an MPS as the favoured Fair Price Shop and the MPS shall then be tasked with the responsibility of delivering the allocated quantity of atta at the doorstep of such a beneficiary.
Wherever atta is being given to a beneficiary, the existing amount of Rs 2/kg being charged from the beneficiary shall be collected by the MPS. For this purpose, the MPS shall preferably collect the amount through digital payment mode. Only where the beneficiary does not have access to digital payments shall the MPS collect the payment in cash.
A Special Purpose Vehicle shall be formed by MARKFED to undertake all activities required to successfully offer the service of home delivery of atta to the beneficiaries of NFSA.
The Cabinet also decided that the state government shall bear the entire cost of grinding wheat into atta even though the guidelines framed under NFSA allowed the recovery of these grinding charges from the beneficiary. The new service is, therefore, expected to result in a saving of about Rs 170 crore for the beneficiaries as regards their present expenditure on converting wheat into atta at the local atta chakki.
