Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo chaired a detailed review meeting of the Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) and Legal Metrology Departments, focusing on their functioning, achievements, and upcoming initiatives. Commissioner Secretary Saurabh Bhagat presented a comprehensive overview of the departments' progress.
Present at the meeting were Directors of FCS&CA Kashmir and Jammu, the Controller of Legal Metrology, and other senior officials.
The Chief Secretary praised the departments for advancements in digitization, Aadhaar integration, and transparency in food distribution. He stressed the need to remove ineligible beneficiaries, strengthen consumer protection, and ensure timely delivery of services to improve efficiency.
Officials reported that under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), over 102.54 lakh individuals across 25.61 lakh families in Jammu and Kashmir receive monthly food grain allocations. These include 3.70 lakh quintals under NFSA, 1.59 lakh quintals under non-NFSA, 1.24 lakh quintals under PMGKAY, and 0.20 lakh quintals under the State Ayushman Ann Yojana (SAAY).
J&K has achieved 100% Aadhaar seeding of ration cards and beneficiaries, with 96.55% authenticated transactions, enhancing transparency in the public distribution system. The network operates through 6,611 sale outlets, with 6,362 using e-PoS devices for online transactions.
The AAY (Antyodaya Anna Yojana) benefits 2.21 lakh families (8.76 lakh beneficiaries) with 35 kg food grains per ration card free monthly. Priority Households (PHH) cover 14.39 lakh families (58.63 lakh beneficiaries) receiving 5 kg per person, while Non-Priority Households (NPHH) include 8.11 lakh families (31.80 lakh beneficiaries) who receive subsidized food grains. Additionally, 0.89 lakh families (3.34 lakh beneficiaries) fall under the exclusion category.
The department highlighted technology-driven reforms under SMART-PDS, including 100% FPS automation with e-PoS devices, digitized beneficiary databases, Aadhaar-based biometric authentication, and ongoing migration to the new RCMS portal integrating migrant ration cards.
For grievance redressal, multiple channels like the JK-Grams portal, toll-free numbers, and WhatsApp services are operational to address consumer complaints promptly.
Strict enforcement measures have been adopted to curb misappropriation, black-marketing, and diversion of food grains, including fines up to Rs. 8,000 per quintal for wheat/rice and Rs. 120 per kg for sugar. Additional penalties apply to supervisory officers who fail to report malpractices.
Future targets include achieving 100% e-KYC saturation by December 2025, full integration of migrant ration cards by November 2025, reorganization of FCS&CA and Legal Metrology departments by December 2025, operationalizing a 1.13 lakh KL CUF facility at Bajalta, land acquisition for 49,000 KL storage at Srinagar, and upgrading PoS machines by March 2026.
Regarding the Legal Metrology Department, its responsibilities include inspection and verification of weights and measures (weighbridges, tank lorries, storage tanks, petrol dispensers), regulation of packaged and imported commodities, e-commerce inspections, LPG and petroleum product regulation, consumer complaint lodging, and trader support through BRAP and EQDB initiatives.
In the current year, the department conducted 20,455 inspections, held 242 awareness camps, received 100 consumer complaints, issued 1,256 challans, and generated Rs. 182.51 lakh in revenue through fines and composition fees.