Chandigarh administration decentralises food distribution, but a long way to go

While food availability has gone up in the past couple of days, supply of cooked food for the poor remains inadequate

Facing flak from the public, the Chandigarh administration has decentralised its cooked food distribution, shifting the responsibility from the food supplies and consumer affairs department to all three sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs) to feed the poor.

The deputy commissioner said he has already directed all SDMs to visit the field and explore new points for food and ration distribution. (HT Photo)

While residents say food availability has gone up in the past couple of days, a lot still needs to be done. Farmilla Devi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillor from Dadumajra, an area that has nearly 5,000 poor families, said cooked food is distributed at three points in her ward, but inadequate distribution results in long queues. “People also have to wait for hours for getting free ration. The problem is that local councillors are not being involved in the process,” said Devi, adding that city BJP president Arun Sood had sought intervention of UT administrator and, hopefully, they will be involved.

SEVERAL AREAS STILL UNTOUCHED

The UT media bulletin on Tuesday claimed to have distributed cooked food to 1.30 lakh people. This, according to deputy commissioner (DC) Mandip Brar, has doubled in the past one week. Though Brar said the situation on ground has improved, there are areas where the supply is still poor.

Satish Kainth, councillor from ward number 11, which has more than 3,000 poor families living in Sector 53 (Nehru Colony), Sector 55 (Indira, Kamal and Adarsh colonies) and Palsora village, said, “The administration has only set up a single distribution point at the Sector 56 community centre for such a huge area. I spoke to area SDM SK Jain several times but things have not improved,” said Kainth. Jain could not be reached for comments.

MORE DISTRIBUTION POINTS NEEDED

As per the information, the UT still has 19 major distribution points, which seems insufficient given that each point, on an average, is catering to more than 5,000 people now.

The DC said he has already directed all SDMs to visit the field and explore new points for distribution.

“There is definitely a need to have more points to further streamline the distribution but it is a matter of great achievement that UT has started feeding over 1 lakh people on a daily basis,” said Brar.

“It is a challenging job feeding a large number of residents. There was food shortage for a few days after resources of some NGOs had dried up, but the UT has now begun providing ration to them. Besides, food preparation has increased in kitchens run by the administration,” the DC said.