Fulfilling the commitment to deliver ration to the people at the doorsteps seamlessly, the Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday gave approval to rollout home delivery service of atta from 1 October and shall be implemented across the state in three phases.
Conceding the proposal of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department to introduce home delivery of atta under National Food Security Act (NFSA), the state has been divided into eight zones and the service shall commence in one zone in the first phase, in two zones in the second phase and in the remaining five zones in the last and third phase.
According to the CMO spokesperson, the government shall offer to every beneficiary enrolled under NFSA, the option of home delivery of atta. Any beneficiary, who wishes to physically collect his entitlement of wheat from a Fair Price Shop (FPS), shall have an option of OPT-OUT through a suitable IT intervention freely available to him. The delivery cycle of distribution shall now be changed from quarterly cycle to monthly cycle.
The service shall introduce the concept of Mobile Fair Price Shops (MPS). The MPS shall be a transport vehicle, preferably fitted with GPS facility and cameras to live stream the handing over of Atta to the beneficiary. It shall mandatorily have the facility of weighing scales to satisfy the customer about the weight of the atta before it is delivered.
To extend financial relief to the farmers out of state Budget, the Cabinet also gave approval to provide relief of Rs 5400 per acre assuming 50% loss to the cotton crop in entire area in Sri Muktsar Sahib district. Resultantly, Rs 38.08 crore and Rs 3.81 crore would be released to these affected farmers and farm labourers respectively out of state budget.