By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 22 Mar: Due to the government of India having made food grains free of cost under NFSA from 1 January, 2023, a problem had arisen due to lack of clarity regarding the payment to ration vendors.
It may be noted that the All India Fair Price Shop Dealers’ Federation, Uttarakhand, had demanded that ration vendors should be paid under NFSA. In this regard, on 19 January, State Food Minister Rekha Arya, Secretary, Food and departmental officers heard the arguments of the ration vendors while conducting a review with the officials of all the districts.
At the meeting, the Food Minister had given instructions to the departmental officers that by 15 February, action should be taken for budget allocation under the head of payment to ration vendors.
Arya said, today, that in this context, against an amount of Rs 35 crore, the government has allocated an amount of Rs 9.35 crore, which will be paid to all ration dealers. She said that after withdrawing the sanctioned amount, the voucher number and date from the PFMS portal would be made available monthly to the budget controlling officer and the administrative department on the updated prescribed format. The approved/allocated budget funds will be distributed to the cheap grain vendors and transportation freight from internal godowns to FPS would be paid directly into their accounts. A 100% compliance with the provisions given in the financial rules will be ensured before such payment.