TS Govt hikes commission to ration dealers, okays 13 other demands

HYDERABAD: The Telangana Government increased the commission for ration dealers from Rs 900 to Rs 1,400 per metric tonne benefiting 17,227 dealers in the State. With this, the commission which was a mere Rs 200 per tonne nine years ago jumped seven times to reach the present rate.

The announcement came after Finance Minister T Harish Rao and Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar held a detailed discussion with the ration dealer associations on Tuesday. The hike would cause an additional financial burden of Rs 139 crore on the exchequer.

“Telangana is the only State in India that increased commission by 700 percent. Dealers play a crucial role in releasing six kilos of rice to 35.56 lakh card holders benefitting 91 lakh people,” Harish Rao. He said that those holding Central Government cards would receive an additional kilo of rice.

Other demands of the dealers agreed by the Government in principle were dealership to kin of 100 dealers who lost their lives during the pandemic, Rs five lakh insurance to dealers on the lines of ‘Rytu Bima’, implementation of ‘Arogyasri’ for dealers, setting of way bridges for accurate weighing at Mandal-Level-Stock (MLS) points, the extension of dealership tenure to five years, increasing age limit of dealers from 40 years to 50 years, immediate financial help of Rs 10,000 for the funeral, exemption of 1.5-tonne variation from the purview of law and allocation of land in Hyderabad for the construction of Ration Bhavan.

Ration Dealers Association JAC leaders thanked Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and the ministers for agreeing to their demands.