Employee shortage dogs food and supplies dept.

Statesman News Service

MALDA, July 7: An insufficient number of employees in the food and supplies department is hampering the execution of routine jobs, such as detection of fake ration cards, in the district. Mr NK Saha, the district controller, food and supplies, admitted that, his department was facing an employee-shortage crisis, due to which, fresh ration cards could not be issued. As per the sub-divisional controller of food and supplies, nearly 16,000 fresh applications for ration cards are presently lying in his department; and 20,000 applications are lying unattended in block offices, whereas 1,100 applications sent to the district magistrate’s office are awaiting a final approval. Refusing to disclose his name, the Malda sub-divisional controller said: “We have been receiving applications for ration cards since last year, but have failed to issue a single ration card till date.” The sub-divisional controller further said that, his office needed a minimum of 50 employees for executing routine jobs. He said that, in the past few years, many employees had been transferred, many employees promoted and many had retired. But, there had been no recruitment for filling up the vacancies. It was learnt that, there is only one chief inspector working in the sub-divisional office on deputation. But he too is finding it difficult to bear the workload single-handedly in the absence of sub-inspectors, who are required to make regular visits to ration dealer shops for detection of fake ration cards. The sub-divisional controller also informed that, even after the death of ration card holders, family members of the deceased had not surrendered their cards, which they have been using as their own. These are all fake ration cards. Regular visits to ration shops are thus necessary to stop the practice.