Check quality, weight of food materials before loading: Tamil Nadu government on PDS commodities

CHENNAI: The state government on Monday instructed that the essential commodities under the Public Distribution System should be loaded in the truck only after verifying the quality and quantity from the warehouses.

According to a circular issued by N Subbaiyan, Registrar of Cooperative Societies, the essential commodities such as rice, sugar, oil and other items under the PDS should be loaded in the transport vehicle only after checking the quality and weight from the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation warehouses.

“To ensure this, each vehicle moving PDS commodities has an electronic weighing scale of 60 kg and while unloading the commodities at fair price shops, they must be re-weighed and handed over to the fair price shop staff and must obtain approval from the staff,” Subbaiyan said in a circular issued to all additional and joint registrars of cooperative societies.

He also advised that the weighing scales should be given by the concerned principal societies and not to disobey the guidelines and instructions given for the purpose of hastily starting the relocation works or completing the relocation works.

According to the senior official from the department, in various places, there were continuous complaints about the weight of essential commodities being transported to the PDS shops.

“The new procedure has been introduced in response to complaints of underweight items being checked and shipped from warehouses. According to this, before loading from the warehouses to the transport vehicle and after unloading from the vehicle to the fair price shops, the weight will be checked, where the error will be detected and appropriate action will be taken,” the official said.