The state food and supplies department has decided to appoint more distributors and dealers, while also deciding that a modified ration (MR) dealer will serve up to 5,000 consumers.

“A total of 65 fresh distributors and 1500 fresh MR dealers will be appointed across the state. Advertisements will be published in this regard soon. One MR dealer will handle only 5,000 consumers,” minister in-charge for food and supplies department, Jyotipriya Mallick, said here on Wednesday.

Minister Mallick convened a review meeting at Uttarkanya on Wednesday to take stock of the situation, especially the public distribution system (PDS). Talking to reporters, Mr Mallick also disclosed that wheat meant for the PDS was being smuggled to other countries from areas near the India- Bangladesh border.

“To check smuggling, the department has decided to distribute packaged flour,” he said. On the other hand, to check malpractices, CCTV cameras will be installed in flour mills.

“A vigilance team has been asked to keep a close eye on flour mills. A total of 91 flour mills were functioning across the state, and of them, 20 have been terminated following complaints about adulteration. At least 11 MR dealers in Nadia have been suspended on charges of flour theft,” Mr Mallick added.

Though the department has decided to build five ration shops in the tea belt in the Hills, only one has been completed so far. According to Mr Mallick, 64,000 digital ration cards have not yet been distributed in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts. There are 16 lakh ration card holders in those two districts.

The state food department has also decided to mark the number of workers and nonworkers in tea plantations. “If the owner of a tea plantation does not give ration to nonworkers, the department will appoint self-help groups to provide them the PDS items,” he said.

Talking to this correspondent, Minister Mallick also said: “I have warned inspectors, who are responsible for examining go-downs and procurement of paddy. I hae also asked them to follow a method for paddy procurement to check corruption.”

He added that a probe is going on into allegations of anomalies in the paddy procurement process. It was reported that several metric tons of paddy was procured in paper only through rice mills in north Bengal districts.

A rice mill that purchased over 20,260 MT of paddy from Alipurduar, allegedly does not have the capacity to ready rice from its mill located at Matigara in Siliguri.