Srinagar, June 12: Chairman Peoples Democratic Front (PDF) and former minister Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen has expressed concern over the “acute scarcity of ration due to 60 percent curtailment” in the monthly ration quota of the consumers in Jammu and Kashmir. He has urged the government to immediately restore the previous ration quota @ 20 kg per soul so that consumers are not forced to purchase their ration needs in the “black market”.
In a statement issued here, Yaseen urged the government to provide ration to all the consumers both APL and BPL families as per the previous quota of 20 kg per soul instead of only 5 kg of rice per head per month. “It is most ridiculous as how just 5 kg of rice per soul per month could suffice the monthly requirement of a consumer,” he said.
Saying that J&K was predominantly a rice-consuming zone, the PDF chairman said the consumers, especially the labour class and farming community were not in a position to purchase rice from the “black market” at exorbitant rates, given their distressed financial conditions. He also urged the food supplies and consumer affairs department to make the ration distribution system easy. “Biometric system at ration depots has put consumers to unnecessary inconvenience,” he added.
Hakeem Yaseen also demanded proper scrutinizing of the PMAY lists so that all non-genuine persons are deleted and only genuine families get shelter under the “Housing for All” scheme.
He also criticized the government for its “failure” to improve the power supply position in Kashmir, saying that frequent and unscheduled power cuts have made the life of the people miserable.
