THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Food Commission formed to monitor and improve the functioning of fair price shops and other schemes under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2003, received just 95 complaints in three years. The reason: the fair price shop-level vigilance committees mandated by the Act have not been formed in the state.
As per the NFSA, vigilance committees are to be formed at the fair price shop, taluk, district and state levels. The duties of the shop-level committees are to supervise all schemes under the Act and report rule violations and fund misappropriation to the district grievance redressal officer (DGRO). A major function of the food commission is to hear appeals on the DGRO’s orders.
The apathy in forming these committees at 14,000-odd fair price shops is ‘costly’ since a huge amount is spent on the functioning -- `17.30 lakh for the salary and travel expenses of its chairperson and members in 2020-21 fiscal year. The amount rose to `32.22 lakh last fiscal.Equally worrying is the government’s delay in tabling the annual reports of the food commission since 2019 in the state assembly as mandated by the Act.
“State-, district- and taluk-level committees have been formed. We are in the process of forming shop-level committees. The delay is due to the confusion over selecting the political representatives to the committee,” said a source in the food minister’s office. In the absence of committees, the commission formed in late June 2019 received only 95 complaints so far.
They included direct complaints to the commission and those registered suo motu on the basis of media reports or commission’s inspections. Commission chairperson K V Mohan Kumar said they have taken several efforts to improve the implementation of various schemes. Tribal women’s collectives named “Bhasura” were formed in several hamlets to monitor ration supply. An important intervention was made to ensure supply of quality grains and cereals for the school noon meal programme. Based on the commission’s directions, sub-standard food items supplied by the Food Corporation of India are now returned by ration shops and schools, he told TNIE.