Mormugao’s ration shops to protest, not lift food grain quota

Vasco: Fair price shop owners in Mormugao taluka on Thursday said they will not lift their monthly quota of food grains from the month of November in protest of the government’s failure to address their issues despite assurances.
Speaking on behalf of the taluka’s fair price shop owners, Gandhi Henriques said that the government has failed to bear the cost of transport and labour, which he said was their right under the National Food Security Act.
“As per the act, the government has to compulsorily deliver ration to the fair price shops, but the government has failed to do this. The government had promised a consumer court to deal with such cases, but that too remains unfulfilled,” he said.
“The fair price shop owners are the worst hit by the public distribution scheme of the government of India. We are on the verge of shutting down business.”
He said that the fair price shop owners barely get a commission of Rs 1.7 per kilogram. “We have to bear the expenses of rent, transport, labour and paper rolls for POS machines, among others, which means we incur losses,” Henriques said.
He said that then minister for civil supplies and consumer affairs Govind Gaude had accepted all their demands but nothing has materialised since then.