Bhopal, Mar 9: Food and Civil Supplies Minister Akhand Pratap Singh has said that the scheme to distribute wheat through Panchayats is in the interest of poor people which would prove very beneficial. But it must be ensured that government funds are not misused and the scheme is implemented with utmost honesty. Akhand Pratap Singh was taking a review meeting in connection with wheat procurement and public distribution system with the officers of Food, Civil Supplies, Warehousing and Logistics corporations of Rewa division at Sidhi.

He informed that the state government has taken the decision of distributing wheat at the rate of Rs 3 per kg and rice at Rs 4.50 per kg for poor people. The government has launched this scheme of purchasing wheat directly from farmers and supply the same smoothly to poor people with a view to saving them from middlemen. He said that many irregularities crop up due to laxity in monitoring. Therefore, wheat should be stored in and released from the warehouse only after proper weighing and at the same time continuous monitoring should be ensured.

Singh informed that clear-cut instructions have been issued to all the collectors to issue cheques against purchase of wheat in the name of farmers. He enquired from the Food officers about the position of supplied sacks at wheat procurement centres and direct supply of wheat to Panchayats. The officers assured him to purchase much more wheat than the target. While expressing displeasure over absence of officers of some districts, Singh said strict action should be taken against such officers after issuing them show cause notice.

At the meeting held at Singrauli, Akhand Pratap Singh apprised himself of the activities of these departments in the districts and said that adequate employment should be provided to people. If a family has completed 100 days of employment as per the Job Card then it should be provided job under drought relief head. He also issued the instruction that jobs should be floated as per requirement with a view to check migration of people due to lack of employment and initiative should be taken to ensure instant payment of wages. Discussing about drinking water, Singh, who is also minister-in-charge of Sidhi district, said that the riser pipes of hand pumps should be increased in the areas where underground water table has sunken.