Lucknow: Launching a blitzkrieg against imported goods, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday urged people to ‘Go Swadeshi’. Yogi backed his call claiming that money spent on imported items was being used to destabilise the country.Addressing the gathering at the launch of a new e-PoS-based feedback system for fair price shop dealers under the ‘single-stage door-step delivery’ scheme at Lok Bhawan, Yogi said, “A portion of the funds flowing out of the country is often used to fuel terrorism and destabilise India”. Instead, people must push local products globally, he added.The CM also launched the e-PoS-based fair price shop dealer feedback system under single-stage doorstep delivery. He said his govt had approved an increase in the commission for fair price shop dealers from Rs 90 to Rs 125 per quintal and a letter had been sent to the Centre requesting a further increase of Rs 25. The CM also said 10,000 ration shops were established as ‘Annapurna Bhavans’.The CM said that fair price shop dealers earlier bore the brunt of the corruption of previous govts but transparency in the food distribution system under BJP had provided them with dignity. Where earlier at least 300 complaints out of 1,000 during janata darshan were related to ration distribution, that number had fallen to zero now, he said.“Nobody can now point fingers at you. Before 2017, SP-affiliated individuals used to keep the ration cards of the poor in their own homes, but that this is no longer the case. Even though dealers worked hard even then, they had to bear abuse when the govt failed to send ration, and had to suffer the consequences of others’ corruption. The very word ‘kotedar’ had come to evoke resentment among people,” he said, adding that the fault was never theirs and it was those running the govt at that time who had corrupt intentions.The CM said that after forming the govt, he spoke to fair price shop dealers. “I told them that there were 39 types of items that they could sell in their shop, like clothes, soap, toothpaste, oil, and so on. This was not permitted earlier,” he said.Claiming that the food and civil supplies department has undergone extensive reform post 2017, Yogi said not a “single complaint” regarding ration distribution was received.Yogi said that while ration distribution would take place over 7-10 days, the warehouses could be utilised for other activities during the remaining 20 days to generate additional income.The CM said that those who had failed to achieve anything were making allegations against the BJP-led govt. He said that in 2017, the govt started the installation of e-PoS machines to bring transparency in the ration distribution system. A single-doorstep delivery system was introduced under which ration would be delivered directly from FCI godowns to fair price shops, and this brought about positive results.“When the govt itself indulged in corruption, how could things change? Mere criticism of fair price shop operators would not bring about change on its own. Extensive reforms have now taken place in the state’s food and civil supplies department. Before 2017, there was widespread manipulation in the procurement of foodgrains from farmers, with purchases not made directly from farmers, and middlemen preventing farmers from receiving the benefit of the minimum support price,” the CM said.He praised the dealers for having worked continuously even during Covid, saying that the previous govts lacked the intent to help the dealers by increasing their commission.
