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Members of All India Fair Price Shop Dealers’ Federation meet Union minister Piyush Goyal; Warns to bring Delhi to standstill
The All India Fair Price Shop Dealers Federation met Union minister of Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal, demanding a minimum monthly income in the form of an honorarium.
In the meeting with Goyal, which lasted for 40 minutes, they also demanded that steps be taken to ensure that the fair price shop stays viable.
The Federation has also threatened to bring Delhi to a standstill in January next year by gathering 5 lakh people at Ram Lila Maidan if their demands are not met by then.
Speaking to The New Indian, Bishwambhar Basu, general secretary of the All India Fair Price Shop Dealers’ Federation, said, “The minister and joint secretary both give us positive assurance. He is worried about the problem, but he also needs to act.”
“We will reach all the MPs so that they can raise the issue in the upcoming monsoon session in the parliament. We will invite all the political parties to the Talkatora Stadium on July 25,” Basu said.
“Whoever will stand with us, we will stand beside them in the future too. We will campaign from our counter in the future. We will take out a historic rally from Ram Leela on January 16,” he added.
Basu further said, “Even if fingerprints are not matched, ration can be given through an Aadhaar number. The ration dealers are angry that the government has not sent any guidelines in this regard.”
Basu further said that they were informed by the centre that any material could be sold from the ration shop. However, he said that they do not agree with that.
According to Basu, there should be control over what material is sold in the ration shop. “The central government is going to put up several ration shops for sale through central agencies like the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED). “The Centre wants to develop ration shops as retail counters of NAFED and the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India Limited (NCCF),” he added.
The federation plans to send mass signatures from the poor people of the country to the Prime Minister’s Office to protest against the 5 kg of food grains.
“Also, from May 1 to June 11, the leaders of the federation will visit the homes and offices of all Lok Sabha MPs and Rajya Sabha MPs and hand over their demand papers. An application will be made to ask questions in Parliament on the issues,” Basu said.
He also informed that a meeting with 3,000 delegates will be held at Delhi’s Talkatora Stadium on July 25.
