Foodgrain scams occurred in UP before 2017: CM Yogi

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath highlighted on Friday that prior to 2017, the state witnessed a ‘food grain scam’, where the underprivileged were deprived of their essential food supplies in various districts.

“As soon as our government came to power in the state, we conducted raids on all the 80,000 fair-price ration shops in the state simultaneously, exposing 30 lakh fake ration cards. Although ration was being issued in their names, those in need were not receiving it,” he added.

The Chief Minister launched a software (CATS-UPSIC) and a mobile app (Complaint and Appeal Tracking System, U.P. State Information Commission) at RTI Bhawan, Lucknow, to facilitate the e-filing and online hearing of complaints and second appeals of the State Information Commission.

During this, he said, “UP’s public distribution system is presently the best in the country.”
“He mentioned that currently, a large number of people in the state are getting food grains from ration shops at fair rates without any shortage or delay. This is resulting in an annual saving of Rs. 1,200 crore for the state government,” as per a press release from the Chief Minister’s office.

Yogi further added that technology can become a powerful medium to bring changes in a person’s life. With the launch of this software and mobile app, no person will have to physically come to the State Information Commission office for their complaints.
“Expressing his happiness, he said that today Uttar Pradesh has become the first state in the country whose Information Commission has its own software and app for the redressal of complaints,” as per the release.

“In the last three years, the UP Information Commission has resolved more than 1,10,000 cases, with 85,000 new cases coming to light. If technology is used correctly and work is done with better teamwork, then in the coming time, the resolution of all cases will be done in a timely manner,” Yogi said.

He added that we will be successful in achieving zero pendency. This is the utility of the law and also the right of a citizen, which should be available to every common citizen in a democracy.

“CM Yogi said that e-hearing is the demand of the time, but ‘babus’ (clerks) will not allow it to happen because they misuse these things. He emphasised the need to move forward in this direction with full force so that the trust of a common citizen in democracy becomes strong,” as per the release.

He mentioned that when the double-engine government came into power in 2017, there were 12 lakh pending cases related to inheritance, transfer, and measurement in the Revenue Department.

“We started working in mission mode in this direction, and within the next two months, resolutions for lakhs of cases were achieved. Then, we developed the IGRS portal, which expedited the resolution of cases related to the Revenue Department. For the solution of common people’s problems, our government initiated the CM Helpline 1,076, and this led to the rapid resolution of people’s issues,” he added.

“CM Yogi mentioned that only through the IGRS portal and CM Helpline, we successfully resolved more than 22 lakh cases in 2017-18. This has increased the satisfaction level of the people in the state. This also marks the beginning of the ease of living,” the release added.