It was on a Wednesday that 400 families went to the extent of blockade and protested
against the shortage of food from the last 20 days.
The agitators had lifted the blockade after one of the local administrators intervened the
Chairman of the Domkal district accepted that it was the duty of ration distributors to give ration to poor people according to the ration quota that was defined.
He said that they were irresponsible with their duties. The food was to be distributed to these 400 poor families that are Below Poverty Line( BPL).
It came out to be the Chairman of Trinamool congress Jafikul Islam run that was accused to be lifting this blockade and the rage among people. The people from the municipality area of Domkal in a district of Murshidabad sat for 3 long hours on a Wednesday morning blocking the state highway raging over shortage of food for the last 20 days.
Even after claims were made by the Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee that there was no
shortage of food in Bengal and that the ration was being provided free of cost.
The crowd involved many women and children in the members of these 400 odd families
that sat on the Behrampore -Domkal state highway blocking it and violating the lockdown
orders from the government.
The agitators did not wear masks and were showing no signs of social distancing. They all sat in a group close to each other without any protection over their mouth.
The chairman of Municipality of Domkal rushed to the spot to control the situation and
admitted that it was the fault of ration dealers for not providing the ration on time.to the
people below the poverty line.
Each ration cardholder had the right to get 5 kg rice and 5 kg flour for a month free of cost.
In an interview with media the State food and supplies minister Jyotipriyo Mallick stated “
there was no shortage of rice in Bengal. We have 9.45 lakh metric tons of rice kept in stock and another amount of 4 lakh metric tone had been stored in the rice mills.
we have enough rice for the people to feed on till august. Our government does not procure rice from the food corporation of India. We buy directly from the farmers.
Strict actions have been taken by the administrator against the dealers accused and found guilty for not opening their shops for people and not giving them their full quota
The minister stated so.
On Wednesday a resident of Domkal municipality ward no 10, Mahadeb Das, said,” Dulal
Saha, who was the ration dealer in our area only gave a kilo of rice to a small number of
families in the time span of last two weeks. It will not be enough to feed a family having 4-5 members”
Most of the people living in this area are wage laborers in Bengal or some other states. We lost our livelihood because of the lockdown we were told that the state and central
government will be providing free food during the lockdown for the poor “ he said.
Another agitator Subhodh Das said that they were not being allowed to work by the
government and if they were supposed to be starving to death.
He said he knows that they are risking their lives by calling a gathering of a large number of people for the protest but hey had no other option in hand.
The chairman of the Trinamool congress made a statement that “I have come to know that the local ration dealers have not been giving the people their quota of ration they have been entitled to and strict actions will be taken against them”
He further promised to give each of the families 10 kg rice and 5 kg potato free of cost.
