The public should make complaints to the district grievances redressal officers while legal members should also raise complaints and issue warnings to the defaulters, advocate Meihoubam Rakesh said concerning the issues of not receiving monthly rations under NFSA and PMGKY schemes.
He was speaking at an online interaction programme for paralegal volunteers, civil bodies and panel lawyers of Tamenglong on the topic ‘Difficulty faced by the local population in accessing their right to food as per NFSA Act, 2013 and PMGKY schemes; identifying the bottleneck and way forward’ on Friday.
Chairman DLSA, Tamenglong A Guneshwar said that there have been complaints of people not getting their monthly rations which the government has distributed for the welfare of the people in both the hills and the valleys area. To get the rice, sit-in-protests or other disruptive activities in the society are usually carried out, he said. Instead of protesting, unnecessary agitating and closing down government offices or burning down vehicles, they should try to find out to whom they should approach and whom to complain, he said. The need to investigate how much of the rice is entitled under various schemes whether it is three, five or 10 kg etc. and at what rates, he added.
Meihoubam Rakesh said that the concept of food security is to ensure that all people, at all times, should get access to the basic food for their active and healthy life and it is characterised by availability, access, utilisation and stability of food.
The issue of food security has been continuously addressed by the government since long, through the Public Distribution System and the Targeted Public Distribution System, the enactment of the National Food Security Act, (NFSA) 2013, he said. In Manipur these schemes were implemented only in 2016, he added.
“In case of non-supply of the entitled quantities of foodgrains or meals to entitled persons under NFSA, they shall be entitled to receive food security allowance from the state government to be paid to each person, within guidelines which may be prescribed by the central government,” he said.
Pointing out that these provisions are governed through the Food Security Allowance Rules, 2015, he said that the state government is responsible for allocation of required foodgrains up to designated depots and FCI godown of each district. It is also responsible for dropping the foodgrains to the door steps of the Fair Price Shop dealer without any transportation charges, he said. The government is also monitoring and setting up effective grievance redressal mechanisms, he added.
The programme was attended by judicial officers, PLVs, civil bodies and panel lawyers.
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