Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday announced that Duare Ration (doorstep delivery of ration), which she promised before Assembly elections, will be launched across Bengal from November 16.
“Duare Ration will be launched on November 16. According to our promise, ration dealers will reach out to the doorsteps of consumers with food grain,” said the chief minister in the Assembly. The state government had started a pilot project with around 3,000 ration dealers in the state from September to check how it works at the grassroots. Officials said Mamata announced the project for the entire state after the pilot project was successful.
There are around 20,800 ration dealers across the state. According to plan, ration dealers will divide their beneficiaries into 16 clusters and reach out to them in the cluster concerned once a month to deliver foodgrain on people’s doorsteps. Ration shops would be opened on Saturday and Sunday. Those who would fail to collect food grain from Duare Ration can get so from shops, said a senior food and supply department official.
“But the real test for authorities will be when dealers reach the doorsteps of 10.33 crore card holders,” he added.
The chief minister said hers was the only party that kept its poll promises. “We are the only party (Trinamul) that keeps its promises made in the manifesto. Many political parties claim to bring good days but actually bring bad days,” Mamata said, taking a dig at the BJP’s achche din.
Ration dealers will carry PoS (point of sale) machines and weighing machines along with foodgrains on a vehicle and deliver the items at homes by verifying the identities of the beneficiaries, sources said.
Some ration dealers are opposed to the scheme, having expressed their inability to implement it. However, senior officials in the government claimed all ration dealers in the state were on board. “All dealers in the state will take part in Duare Ration scheme. People have the option to take ration from the shop too. There is no case of unwillingness among the dealers,” said Jyotsna Mandi, the minister of state of food and supply department.
The government, sources said, has promised financial benefit to ration dealers to run the scheme smoothly. Also, officials in districts have held meetings with aggrieved dealers and managed to convince them of the importance of the project.
However, Biswambhar Basu, national general secretary of All India Fair Price Shop Dealers’ Federation, said many dealers, especially elderly ones and women, faced practical problems in implementing Duare Ration.
“We will participate in the inaugural programme on November 16 where the chief minister would be present. Many elderly and lady dealers will face problems in carrying out the scheme. We will tell the chief minister of the problems on the inaugural day. We hope she will help us to resolve the issues,” said Basu.
Mamata on Tuesday also announced that the third phase of Duare Sarkar and Paray Samadhan will start from November 16 and continue for a month till December 15.
“I consider the Duare Sarkar scheme to be outstanding and I believe this scheme would be considered globally one day. Another popular scheme of our government is Paray Samadhan. Both schemes would start again from November 16 for a month,” Mamata said.
“On the first phase of Duare Sarkar three crore people attended in 33,000 camps across the state and in second phase 3.61 crore people came up in over a lakh Duare Sarkar camps,” she added.