Chandigarh, April 25 – The implementation of the initiative of issuing ‘Distress Ration Tokens’ to provide ration to the needy during the nationwide lockdown period was reviewed by Haryana Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal. Going ahead in this effort, all the Deputy Commissioners have been asked to complete the survey work within a week to identify the eligible households.

The Chief Minister gave these directions during a review meeting with all the Deputy Commissioners through video conferencing today.

In the meeting, the Chief Minister said local committees are able to reach each and every household to assess and identify families that are in need of ration assistance. He directed the officers to include volunteers and representatives of social organizations people in these local committees.

The Chief Minister was apprised that the survey of over 8 lakh households has been completed, out of which about 1.35 lakh families have been identified who do not have ration cards. 'Distress Ration Tokens' are being issued so that after receiving the tokens such families have to only collect free rations from the designated fair price (ration) shop.

The Chief Minister said that the committees for this work have been structured at four levels, which include the District-Level Committee, Zonal Committee, Sector Committee, and Local Committee. He said that the Deputy Commissioner (DC) is the chairman of the committees in the district level committees and DCs may designate a senior officer from the district as Member Secretary of the District Committee.

The Chief Minister made it clear that the Chairman of the local committee should be at least a Class-C Government employee and should have the desire and zeal for social work after the office hours. He said that such employees should treat this work as a mission. He said that Anganwadi and Asha workers should normally not be included in local committees but if necessary only as a last resort as a separate survey from the health angle is being conducted by the Health Department.

During the meeting, Additional Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Mr. V. Umashankar briefed about the technical aspects of the web portal in which the Local Committees are expected to enter the survey data and issue of Distress Ration Token.

In the meeting, Chief Secretary, Mrs. Keshni Anand Arora, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Mr. Rajesh Khullar, Additional Chief Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management Department, Mr. Dhanpat Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Jails, Criminal Investigation, Mr. Vijai Vardhan, Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Haryana, Food, Civil Supplies Consumer Affairs Department, Mr. P.K. Das, Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Local Bodies Department, Mr. S.N. Roy, Principal Secretary, Development and Panchayats Department, Mr. Sudhir Rajpal, Principal Secretary, Excise and Taxation Department, Mr. Anurag Rastogi and other senior officers were also present.