Nalgonda, February 28: As a fallout of the ongoing non-cooperation movement by the government employees in the Telangana region demanding creation of a Telangana state, supply of rice and other essentials by the civil supplies department has been disrupted affecting the students in social welfare hostels, government schools and also the ration card holders in Nalgonda district.
Several welfare hostels in the district are on the verge of closing down as they are unable to provide food to the inmates for want of essential commodities. The midday meal programme in various government schools is also likely to come to a halt as the civil supplies department officials stopped supplying rice and other provisions to the hostels and the midday meal scheme operators.
In order to get the provisions, the ration shop dealers have to submit demand drafts to the Mandal Revenue Office. The MRO’s office will then issue a release order to the warehouse incharge of the Civil Supplies department, who will then release the essential commodities to the dealers. The dealers will supply the essentials to schools for the midday meal programme. In the case of welfare hostels, the hostel incharge will submit the draft and take delivery of the supplies directly from godowns. As usual, the dealers and hostel incharges have submitted their drafts and obtained release orders but the protesting Telangana employees have locked up 17 civil supplies godowns in the district blocking the delivery of the essentials.
The dealers and hostel incharges have to lift rice stocks from the godowns between 26 and 31 and any delay in this regard is likely to severely affect food supply to students and hostellers.
Around 10,000 quintal of rice is required for providing midday meals to three lakhs students in the district. Another 5,000 quintal is required to be supplied to 325 SC, ST, and BC hostels and the AP Residential schools to provide food to the more than one lakh students inmates.
On the other hand, there are 8,96,350 ration cards in the district, of which 75,000 are Annapoorna and Anthyodhaya cards. About 50 per cent of these ration card holders are dependent on the ration rice. With the supply of essentials disrupted on account of the noncooperation stir by the Telangana government employees, the poor card holders are doing the rounds of the ration shops for their monthly supplies.
–Agencies