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4,300 villages, just 671 ration depots: Tribals seek more PDS shops in Alluri Sitarama Raju district

4,300 villages, just 671 ration depots: Tribals seek more PDS shops in Alluri Sitarama Raju district

Time of India2 days ago
VISAKHAPATNAM: The public in the newly formed Alluri Sitarama Raju district are demanding more public distribution system (PDS) shops, famously known as ration depots, as there are an insufficient number of depots in faraway places, creating problems for the tribals to get the ration.
Tribals and people's organisations are demanding more ration depots by repairing the GCC depots in the district.
Moreover, there are allegations that there is no supervision over the existing 671 depots for 8.91 lakh beneficiaries of 2.98 lakh ration cards. The new district has three revenue divisions, which have over 4,300 villages in 22 mandals.
It is recalled that the tribal area in the combined Visakhapatnam district had only 11 mandals and around 5 lakh population with only one revenue division, Paderu.
After the merger of Rampachodavaram division of East Godavari district and Chintoor of the erstwhile Khamam district, the district population increased to 9.54 lakh, enhancing two more divisions and villages from 3,200 to 4,300 in the district, whose extent increased to 12,251 square kilometres.
The public is now demanding mini ration depots in the interior pockets as the existing ration depots are up to 10 km away from their habitations.
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'We have only 671 depots for around 4,300 villages, which means 6.5 km is the average distance of each ration depot to the villages. We come all the way from our hilltop villages, and nobody cares about how we carry the ration to our villages and face hardships,' one of the villagers, M Mahesh, said.
The Adivasi JAC leader, Ramarao Dora, said that the situation would be different and the hardships of tribals are more in the rainy season as bulging streams and rivulets create more problems.
The Girijana Sangham leaders say that many ration depots and godowns are in a dilapidated state following the PDS ration supply at GCC depots being stopped by the previous govt. The leaders hope that the visit of Civil Supplies Minister Nadendla Manohar in Paderu division may change the situation.
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Deccan Herald

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Chaos, delays at post-office: Server woe clashes with Rakhi rush, poorly serving people & staff
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Time of India

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Chaos, delays at post-office: Server woe clashes with Rakhi rush, poorly serving people & staff

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