Different wings of Punjab State Food Commission to be operational from & composite office...

Spokesman News Service, Chandigarh, November 1: To streamline the working of Punjab State Food Commission, the Newly-appointed Chairman Mr. D.P. Reddy has taken a decision to bring every official and employee of the commission under one roof. At present, the Commission is functioning from two different places with Chairman and supporting staff functioning from PUNSUP building, Sector 34, Chandigarh, while all the Members and The staff are operating from Forest Complex, Sector 68, Mohali.

For the composite office of the commission, Punjab government has allotted a portion of building in Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration, Sector 26, Chandigarh. Mr. Reddy said that we have decided to create a portal for lodging complaints, website & helpline for the convenience of general public to make the system more transparent and the decision would be taken soon in this regard.

Meetings have been held with the concerned Administrative Secretaries of the Departments of Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, Punjab and Education to ensure proper implementation of NFSA, 2013. "Meetings have been held with concerned Secretaries to Government of India to have first-hand information regarding the expectations of the Government from the State Food Commission with regard to implementation of NFSA.

The best practices followed by other State Food Commissions of other States were also discussed", the chairman said. He further said that meetings were held with the concerned district level officers of the Food, Civil Supplies Department. Detailed discussions were held regarding distribution of food grains under NFSA, 2013 to know whether entitled beneficiaries were getting their share of food grains.

Suggestions were also sought from the officials to improve the distribution system. The field officers were informed that in future more field visits would be conducted by the Chairman & the Members to ensure smooth functioning of the distribution system & compliance with implementation of the provisions of the NFSA Act in letter and spirit.