At a press conference in Pasighat, East Siang District, 51 ration card holders from Padu village, Upper Siang District, alleged anomalies in rice distribution and violation of norms in BPL ration card selection. The card holders claimed their rice shares were given to 89 new card holders not yet recorded in the government portal. The aggrieved families, led by Gram Chairperson Smti Sor Perme Tayeng, demanded action against officials like CO Mariyang Mopom, DFCSO and i/c ADC Mariyang for their alleged involvement in this deprivation. They stated that their ration for October 2023 to January 2024 was given to new card holders issued in the second week of January 2024.
“Our ration cards are valid upto June 2024 and are still listed in the NFSA portal based on which rations are issued and released to each beneficiary. But instead of releasing the ration items to the listed ration card holders, the CO Mariyang Mopom and DF&CSO have given our share of ration to new holders illegally”, said the aggrieved ration card holders.
As per their statement, they have lodged numerous complaints in the office of Dy. Commissioner, Yingkiong, ADC Mariyang, CO Mariyang (Mopom) and DF&CSO Yingkiong seeing the favour for corrective measures. “We have been deprived and taunted by the authorities concerned for the reason best known to them. Even if there is a proposal for addition of new beneficiaries as per the government norms, the ration items should have been released against the new card holders also. But instead of taking corrective measures and arranging or enhancing rice quota for the fresh card holders, the CO and DF&CSO are giving away our share of rations to the fresh card holders while depriving the genuine card holders like us whose card are valid upto June 2024 and are still there in the ration portal”, added the aggrieved card holders.
Ironically, the said authorities concerned have added some APL members of Padu village like a wife of a teacher etc under BPL category just to let them get the benefits of Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Priority Households (PHH) mean for the poor families. Though the CO, i/c ADC Mariyang along with the DF&CSO have revised and added fresh applicants/beneficiaries of 89 families in the ration card list (48 AAY) and 41 PHH) as per NFSA 2023 Principal (Act) and Arunachal Pradesh Food Security Rules 2015, the aggrieved ration card holders have alleged that their share of 51 families are shared and given to the unlisted new card holders whose names are not yet listed/uploaded in the portal.
“To get our pending ration for several months we are bound to write to authorities repeatedly and compelled to visit their offices while also taking the help of a lawyer on a routine basis which is a costly affair for a villager like us. Due to the foul play and incompetency of some officers, the villagers of our Padu village are in a direction to fight each other which would further create communal disharmony among the peace loving village. The authorities’ concerned need to make a ground report and verification of the matter from ground level in order to amicably address the concerns of the villagers instead of sitting and ordering from the office table by hearing the approaches and dictations of some vested people”, added the aggrieved ration card holders.
In their press statement, the aggrieved ration card holders have also informed that M/s Gumin Tayeng FPS store/go-down was also broken by one Shri Tabeng Lego from Padu village on 12th January 2024 last and stole the stored PDS rice of four months, i.e. October, November, December 2023 and January 2024. In this connection, FPS owner, Gumin Tayeng from Padu village had lodged an FIR in the Police Station of Officer-in-Charge, Mariyang but no proper action had been initiated against the responsible person. Similarly, during October 2022 last a complaint was also lodged against one Kanggong Lego, ASIF&CS from the office of DF&CSO Yingkiong for illegally distributing the four months (April-July 2022) PDS ration (mean for the 51 genuine ration card holders) to the 102 households of Padu village without justifying the card holders. Due to such act from the ASIF&CS five genuine card holders namely Smti Sor Perme Tayeng (GPC), Smti Ojing Paron Perme (GPM) and three others had didn’t get their ration, but ADC Mariyang had taken cognizance of the matter that time and had sought explanation from the ASIF&CS for not following the established norms. If the revision of ration card beneficiaries are as per norms then why similar revision drives are not being carried out in other villages of the district, questioned the aggrieved card holders.
When contacted to Hage Lailang, Dy. Commissioner, Upper Siang District over the issue, he said that the complainants had come to meet him. “I have instructed the officer concerned to look into the matter”, added Lailang. When Naku Siram, i/c DF&CSO Yingkiong was asked for her statement on the allegation of the aggrieved ration card holders from Padu village, she said that she is new to the district and do not know much about the previous cases. But she has hinted at taking corrective measures wherever possible.
The problems and the concerns of the Padu village in regards to PDS issue is not new, it has been happening since last two years. Now the aggrieved ration card holders have appealed to the state’s Chief Minister, Pema Khandu and other higher authorities for timely intervention. They have also sought for a thorough third party investigation into the matter and have demanded for suspension of erring officers involved while referring to the instances of CO Mopom’s order of 12th January 2024 whereas on that day the office was closed on account of Losar festival holiday.
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