Consumers harassed at CAPD ration depots Director assures action

  By Tahima Qazmi 

Jammu, Jan 13: 



While the public distribution department of the state is also the custodian of consumer rights of the citizens, it is ironical that the ration depot owners of the department of CA&PD are harassing the consumers by their unaccountable and arbitrarian manner of working and the bosses of the department have stayed numb to their mal practices, 

The ration depot owners feign short supply of ration and never update the information regarding the stock position which is mandatory for them to display clearly outside the depot. The depot owners are also required to clearly mention the information regarding admissible ration scale per soul and rates of commodities. The ration depots owners are also under obligation to keep the depots open for consumer from 10 AM to 4 PM on weekdays. 

Kashmir Images team not only found most ration depots in the city closed during the forenoons, but also found that no information regarding stock position was mentioned outside the depots. 

"There is no check on these ration depots. They open and close according to their own sweet will and consumers have to shuttle repeatedly to get their due," said Rohit Kapoor, a consumer in the old city. 

"As there is no specific timing for the opening and closing of the depot I have to pay regular visits to check whether it is open or not and once it opens then it gets overcrowded. There should be a system. Either they should specify the timings clearly on the boards or keep them open for the whole day. People who are completely dependent on these depots are facing tough time due to negligent approach of the authorities, said Pankaj Kumar 

Director CAPD Parvez Malik while confessing the fact to Kashmir Images said, "I completely agree that dealers do not update their information on the boards for which they are meant and consumers are facing inconvenience. As far as timings are concerned there are specific timings like 10 to 4, they have the liberty to extend the timing but they cannot reduce it and we make sure that they function under proper guidelines," he further said.

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