By OUR STAFF REPORTER
Dehradun, 28 Nov: A meeting was held today at the National Sports Secretariat in Raipur under the chairmanship of Rekha Arya, Minister of Food and Civil Supplies. The meeting was attended by senior officials from the Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs Departments.
During the meeting, Minister Rekha Arya reviewed the progress of the approvals previously given by the Cabinet and gathered updates from the officials on the directives issued earlier.
Minister Arya discussed the progress of the Cabinet-approved free gas refilling scheme and also reviewed the current status of various government schemes. This included the Salt Nutrition Scheme, distribution of rations under the NFSA (National Food Security Act), and issues related to the benefits and transport charges of ration dealers.
Minister Arya emphasised that the department must quickly issue the necessary government order to ensure subsidies are transferred to beneficiaries’ accounts via DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) for the free gas refilling scheme.
Regarding the NFSA, Minister Arya instructed that the state government should handle the transportation charges for doorstep delivery of ration by contractors to ensure timely payments. She also directed that the funds received from the central government be properly routed through the state government.
Additionally, Minister Arya highlighted the importance of women’s empowerment and directed the department to prioritise women for vacant positions of ration dealers. She instructed the officials to prepare a proposal soon regarding the reservation for women in the allocation of ration dealerships.
The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies, L Fenai, Food Commissioner Harish Chand Semwal, Managing Director of Mandi Parishad RD Paliwal, Additional Secretary, Agriculture, Anand Swaroop, and other senior department officials.
