Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, today chaired a high level meeting at the Civil Secretariat, Jammu, to review functioning of the Department of Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) and the Legal Metrology Department (LMD).

The meeting was attended by Commissioner Secretary, FCS&CA, Zubair Ahmed, Controller, Legal Metrology Department J&K, Anuradha Gupta and other senior officers.

Commending the efforts of both the departments, the Chief Secretary emphasised the need for stringent monitoring to prevent functioning of illegally operating dispensing units. He also directed for creation of a comprehensive database and implementation of capacity building programs for the officers and officials to further strengthen consumer protection measures across the UT.

He emphasised on the concerned to carry out regular inspection of all the business establishments dispensing consumer goods. He directed for protecting the consumer interests in every circumstances so that quality goods and services are provided to them at reasonable rates.

Dulloo also asked for making their services more accessible and easily available to public. He enjoined upon the FCS&CA Department to provide timely food grains to public residing in far off areas. He reviewed the ration distribution and availability during winter months and directed to ensure that each ration card holder in these villages get ration as per his/her entitlement.

Zubair Ahmed, apprised the Chief Secretary of the department’s key activities including current coverage under the Public Distribution System (PDS), ongoing reforms and efforts to enhance system credibility. He provided an update on crucial focus areas such as winter stocking of essential commodities, procurement of paddy during the Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) and other physical and financial achievements.

Controller, Legal Metrology Department, briefed the meeting on department’s objectives and operations. She informed that all services of the department are now available online through the J&K Single Window System and are covered under the J&K Public Services Guarantee Act, 2011.

Notably, the department has introduced an auto-calculation feature for fee assessment on its portal, along with an auto-renewal facility for licenses, making the system more user-friendly.

Highlighting consumer outreach efforts, the Controller stated that the department has conducted 269 service camps in far-flung areas during the current financial year. The LMD ranks third in the number of online applications received and disposed of, with an average processing time of 11 days. In addition to service delivery, the department actively promotes consumer awareness through camps and social media initiatives.

To safeguard consumer interests, the department regularly conducts special enforcement drives. Recently, it launched campaigns against non-standard helmets and unauthorized petrol pumps in Kashmir Valley.