Food Insecurity

News Kashmir Exclusive
Food insecurity fears are once again marring the masses of Kashmir courtesy a recent CAPD order to limit the supply of ration.
Protest, anger, dismay is brewing in entire Kashmir valley against the Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) department at several places for issuing a circular that five kg ration will be provided to each family member each month in the state. The Srinagar city summer capital of the state was rocked with protests against this order at several places like at Gawkadal, Nawa Bazar,Karanagar etc.
Eyewitnesses accounts stated that the large number of disturbed people while staging recently a protest outside Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Department locked the main gate of the office building. The protesters did not allow any employee or even the Director to enter into the office.
It is worth mentioning out here that the Consumer affairs & Public Distribution Department, Jammu and Kashmir, is entrusted with the responsibility of providing direct supply of essential commodities like Rice, Sugar, and Kerosene to consumers and ensure smooth supply of cooking gas to the consumers.
Astonishingly enough, there are also lot of discrepancies in the Fresh Forms provided by CAPD to check defects in the consumer database. It was disgusting feeling for many consumers to see that the basic details like photograph, name, parentage and address, which happen to be incorrect, are already been printed on the forms, without any mandatory blank space for making correction in those fields.
Masses are also totally shocked and angry with the order. Sheikh Sameer, a consumer states –“ The CAPD department by announcing five kg ration per head has made the common man very angry and thus forced all of us to raise voices against the department as the same amount of rice is not sufficient for us and we need to bear in mind that we are a place that heavily depends upon the ration . CAPD Should have also designed effective forms as in the wake of the discrepancies, CAPD should have come up with new forms designed in accordance with the necessities of making corrections. ”
On the otherhand, the Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, Choudhary Zulfkar Ali described the move aimed by opposition to launch misinformation campaign on this issue.
In an official handout issued to press, Ali said some political parties have launched a misinformation campaign on NFSA to mislead the people and bar them from taking benefit of this historic scheme.
“The people should not fall prey to any propaganda and should try to take benefit of this revolutionary scheme,” he said, adding “as the implementation of NFSA would go a long way in plugging the pilferages in the existing public distribution system, the elements who were thriving on the loopholes in the system are also responsible for spreading canards regarding the scheme.”