Srinagar, Oct 22: As rice is considered to be a staple food in Kashmir, the current entitlement of food grains which includes Rice, has caused a greater dissatisfaction among the beneficiaries, who claim that 5KGs of rice per person is not even enough for a week.
A group of aggrieved ration card holders outside a ration depot in Srinagar told Rising Kashmir that current entitlement of food grains is not enough to feed themselves or their families as the Department of Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs is mainly distributing ration with a quantity of 5 KG of rice per person.
“With the entitlement of 5KGs of rice per person for a month, a person can have around 83 grams of rice only in one serving and we Kashmiris take rice both for lunch and dinner. Even a small bird has more appetite than what we have we are getting”, said a group of people holding ration cards in their hands outside a government ration depot.
Notably, according to the current Jammu and Kashmir Food Entitlement Scheme (JKFES) the Department of Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs is currently distributing the food grains under two main categories as PHH and NPHH of which PHH has been further sub-categorized under AAY and Other PHH category.
According to the FCS&CA, the AAY category is entitled to 35 Kg of rice per family at the rate of Rs 3/Kg, Other PHH category is entitled to 5Kg of rice per person mentioned in the ration card and at the rate of Rs 3/Kg. The ration card category falling under NPHH is entitled to 5Kg of rice per person at the rate of Rs 15/Kg.
Director FCS&CA, Kashmir Dr. Abdul Salam Mir told Rising Kashmir that they are also receiving reports over the current entitlement of food grains to people and that they will be taking up the demands of further enhancement in food grains with the higher authorities.
“We are receiving reports that ration card holders are stating that the current entitlement of rice per person is not enough for them. We are taking up the matter with the top authorities and we are making a report on it”, Director FCS&CA, Kashmir said.
The officials at the FCS&CA told Rising Kashmir that the entitlement of ration under the AAY category stands at 35 Kg only and cannot accede beyond that stating that the rice quota received at the depots is defined.
He said, in the ration cards under PHH and NPHH categories the maximum scale entitlement is 35 Kgs of rice, and if any ration card holder has only three registered members on the card and wishes to receive beyond the registered number of persons, the ration can be issued at the rate of Rs 15/Kg.
