Deputy Commissioner Subodh Yadav has ordered the officials concerned to initiate stern action against the owners of the fair price shops who sell food supplies at a higher rate than the prices fixed.

The order was issued at a meeting convened at the deputy commissioner's office here on Saturday, which was attended by the officials of the Department of Food and Civil Supplies.

The deputy commissioner said, there were 101 fair price shops in the entire district. Out of them, he said, 40 fair price shops were reported to be selling foodgrains at a higher price, than fixed price, according to an inquiry conducted.

Mr Subodh Yadav said, every fair price shop should display the timings of the shop, amount of foodgrains to be distributed, rate card, address of the fair price shop owner, license and also compulsory display of the names of the members of the Vigilance Committee who are in charge of the respective fair price shops. And these displays should be made at the prominent places in the shop, which is visible to the customers.

The Aahara Shirastedars should take action in this regard, at their respective taluks, he informed.

Conduct meetings

The DC stated that the members of the Fair Price Shops Vigilance Committee should compulsorily conduct meetings every month and taken suitable decisions.

The owners should also be warned that they cannot sell foodgrains at a higher rate, than the prices fixed by the Government. Stern action will be initiated against whoever found guilty of violating these rules, he warned.

In the last month, ineligible BPL card holders had been identified in six taluks in the district. 38 such ineligible BPL card holders had been identified in Chikkaballapur, 51 in Bagepalli and Gudibande, 82 in Gowribidnur, 242 in Chintamani and 40 in Shidlaghatta taluk.

Thus a total of 503 ineligible BPL card holders had been identified and measures have been taken to cancel their cards, the DC informed.

He said, so far, measures have been taken to cancel the names of a total of 6,000 ineligible beneficiaries from the BPL list.

Taluk level and district level task forces have been appointed to taken stringent action in this regard, he said.
Assistant Commissioner Dr Arundhathi Chandrashekhar and others were present on the occasion.