Kolkata: On first day of free ration supply, police forced to step in to control situation

As crowds gathered at ration shops in the morning, the police had to intervene in many places as people complained that the public distribution scheme (PDS) shops were not providing them with the supplies that had been promised.

People in Cooch Behar city’s Rabindra Nagar area and Malda district’s Manikchak area claimed that the ration shops started properly distributing supplies only after the police stepped in.

The police were forced to use batons in many places in Birbhum district to bring the situation under control, while in Purba Medinipur district’s Khejuri village, a ration dealer accused of hoarding rice and wheat was arrested.

The police also had to use force in Sonarpur city in South 24 Parganas district, and in the village of Boro in Purulia district, where two policemen were injured after being pelted with stones.

The government told people not to panic and crowd ration shops, assuring them that the supplies would last. “People should not be in a hurry to collect the whole month’s ration,” said Food Minister Jyotipriya Mullick. “If they come tomorrow, day after tomorrow, or on the fifth or sixth of this month, then also they will get the ration to which they are entitled. So, people should take time and collect their ration.”

At a press conference in state secretariat Nabanna, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the government had not only started providing free ration to the poor, but also Rs 1,000 to people from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities.

“In some places there may have been some disturbances,” she told reporters. “It may happen. Those who are doing something, they may have made some mistakes. But those who do nothing, they never make any mistakes.”