TIRUPPUR: Residents of Tiruppur complain that there are not enough PDS shops to cater to the rising population. According to official records, there are 8.17 lakh PDS card holders in Tiruppur district, including 4.16 lakh card holders in rural areas and 4.01 lakh card holders in urban areas. In this situation, there are 1,158 PDS shops, including 138 PDS shops in Tiruppur city limits.
N Shanmuga Sundaram, a social activist, said,”Each locality has more than 2,000 families in urban areas in the district, including Tiruppur city. A salesman in PDS shops cannot handle more than 1,000 card holders at each time. I have submitted several petitions regarding this issue in the collectorate and civil supplies department, but didn’t get any proper response. The officials are not realising that rising population in the city is the primary reason behind the demand.”
Another social activist A Eswaran said,”Many of the inter-district migrants from the state hold ration cards in Tiruppur city, which adds on to the already existing crowds in front of the PDS shops. The only solution for this is to increase the number of shops.”
Speaking to TNIE, Joint Registrar (Cooperative Department - Tiruppur) C Srinivasan said, “Many people feel that the cooperative department is reluctant due to the high rent, but it is not the case. Many commercial property owners are reluctant to offer space for PDS shops and alleged that these shops attract many rodents. The owners even claim that it would be difficult to relocate PDS shops after sometime due to the public. Despite this, we have set up over 40 PDS shops in the district in the past two years, but more shops are needed.”