HYDERABAD: Having failed to plug loopholes in the management of fair price shops, the Civil Supplies department has closed down 1,611 shops across the state.The department with help of Vigilance and Enforcement wing has been conducting raids on FPS and sealed many shops and suspended the ownership of others, said KRBHN Chakravarthy, director, Civil Supplies department. Around 1,240 shops have been sealed since March 2010, as owners were misappropriating ration meant for public distribution and selling them at private markets for higher prices, he added. Other irregularities include dealers collecting higher prices than rates fixed and dealers showing incorrect accounts between the stock register and ground balance of goods. "We also found a number of FPSs being run by unauthorised persons where dealers had entrusted shops to others for a fixed sum every month," Chakravarthy said. On an average, 1,600 shops have been shutdown in a year for the past five years. It has become a cycle of issuing licences to FPSs one side and sealing others, Chakravarthy pointed out.Assistant supply officer MS Seshagiri Rao said district supply officers who work under sub-collectors are being informed to issue licences to only deserving applicants for FPS dealerships. But it is also seen officials are not serious about checking the illegal practices at these shops. "There are 44,551 fair price shops in the state and number of working shops are 42,940. Of the 1,611 closed ones, most are under suspension or sealed due to cancellation of licences or expiry of dealership. A few shops were closed due to death of owners while others withdrew their ownership," Seshagiri said.As per CSD records, there are 2.29 crore ration cards for the state. Of these, 2 crore are white ration cards for BPL families and 29 lakh are pink cards, which are issued to above poverty line families.
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