Shillong, Feb 19: Villagers from a border hamlet in Meghalaya’s Ranikor area of South West Khasi Hills district, deprived of their monthly government alloted food ration for years, have finally received their long pending food grains thanks to the swift intervention of a state government mechanism known as CM Connect.
This swift turnabout in their fortunes came following a visit by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma to their village of Koraibari, under Ranikor civil sub division, three days ago, during which the villagers lamented their ordeal of not being alloted their monthly ration under the National Food Security Act from the designated Fair Price Shop dealer in the village. Some of the villagers hadn’t received their food supply for almost two years.
The villagers accused the local Fair Price dealer Lipson Ch. Sangma, the FPS dealer of blocking the supply over petty village politics that had led to factionalism with a section of the inhabitants of the village being excluded from the government’s food distribution programme.
Giving a patient ear to the complaints, claims and counter claims from villagers, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma assured the aggrieved villagers of quick and strict action.
The Director of the state Supply Department, which deals with the PDS distribution, promptly wrote to the Deputy Commissioner of South West Khasi Hills, directing an inquiry into the matter and necessary action.
A team from the Supply Department landed in the affected village on Febraury 17 and conducted a detailed on-the-spot investigation and found many beneficiaries had been deprived of their ration, sometimes for two long years.
The inquiry led to the cancellation of the Fair Price Shop dealer’s license and reconciliation efforts between the warring factions in the village.
The Deputy Commissioner of South West Khasi Hills has also been directed to initiate punitive action, including filing of an FIR against the FPS dealer, in the eventuality the foodgrains already due to the rightful beneficiaries are not distributed.
Lauding the peoples’ courage to demand what is rightfully theirs, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said, “CM Connect has empowered our people. Today people have mastered the courage to stand up for their cause. I really feel a sense of satisfaction that our people today are able to get their problem resolved, and the channel for the redressal of their grievance has been through CM Connect.”
He added that CM Connect was conceptualised to provide platform to the citizens to be heard and their problems addressed.
“While it may not be possible to address all the problems, but it is our humble beginning to give an opportunity to the citizens to make themself heard and raise their voice”, he said and pointed out that multiple grievances and issues have been tackled by the government through such a mechanism.
The CM CONNECT initiative is the state government’s commitment to ensuring food security and upholding justice for all citizens, particularly in remote and vulnerable areas.
Reacting to the turn of events, Commissioner & Secretary Food and Civil Supplies Department Pravin Bakshi said, “Food and Civil Supplies Department is trying its best to ensure transparency in PDS distribution so that no eligible beneficiaries are deprived . Foodgrains distribution through ePOS devices is an important step to ensure beneficiaries get an automated receipt for their ration allocation received. Regular inspections are being done”.
Locals have lauded the intervention of the Chief Minister for quickly responding to the grievances. “We are grateful to CM sir for his timely intervention. We could not believe that in just two days after complaining officials came to our village, verified the complaint and immediately cancelled the dearship licence. We are now getting our entitlement,” secretary of the village said.
Since its inception in February 2024, the CM Connect has redefined the way citizens engage with the government, giving much needed access to its citizens, particularly the vulnerable sections of society.
It’s impact has been overwhelming with more tha 50,000 citizens engaging on the programme. It has provided guidance to over 12,000 individuals on various government schemes, and adressed close to 2,700 citizen grievances.
The CM Connect has successfully resolved close to 1,127 cases with a success rate of
93.5% satisfaction as per a survey conducted among the affected citizens.
