Digboi: A startling incident surfaced at Mamorani village under Assam’s Digboi food and civil supply jurisdiction involving an PDS rice beneficiaries by an Fair Price Agent (FPS)agent on Tuesday.
According to allegations brought about by a few beneficiaries and Adivasi Student bodies of the nearby Gopenari unit in Assam, the fair price agent Mohesh Agarwal asked the beneficiaries to pay a donation for Ganesh Puja before issuing the rice entitled to beneficiaries free of cost for three months.
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The FPS agent, operating under Tingrai Samabai Samity with license no. MRS/73/91/05/192/R, reportedly engaged in similar misconduct earlier, cheating innocent beneficiaries with a lesser quantity of rice.
‘I have received only 25 kilograms of rice on Tuesday in lieu of 6-membered families entitled to 30 kilograms’, alleged an aged tea garden worker of the village.
‘Due to his undesirable practices with discouraging precedence, the supply department had also inspected the outlet earlier, following persistent complaints from the residents, ‘ informed a close neighbor of Agarwal.
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If the allegations hold true, the agent also charged beneficiaries Rs 300 for obtaining a ration card and Rs 1000 for a duplicate against a missing one.
Meanwhile, the agent in question, when inquired by the North East Now to counter-check the validity of the allegations on ground zero, Agarwal itted his offence of collecting the donation using an outdated money receipt.
As similar reports of anomalies in the distribution of the three-month quota of PDS rice pour in from across the sub-division, the supply department must now be on the ground to ensure beneficiaries receive their government benefits freely and fairly.
