Indore: As many as 127 gram panchayats of Indore district don’t have fair price shops forcing thousands of villagers to travel nearby villages to buy rations under public distribution system, district administration data reveals.For past one and a half years, no eligible agency-woman self-help group, Vipran Sahkari Sanstha, Van Samiti, Sewa Sahakari Sanstha and Upbhokta Bhandar- have come forward to open fair price shops in these gram panchayats, a food civil supplies and consumer affairs department official said.“Eligible agencies were invited for allotment of fair price shops in 127 gram panchayats. But, none of them have shown interest in applying for its licence. Less commission due to distribution of less number of ration cards distributed in these gram panchayats is one of the reasons behind no takers for the fair price shops. It will be difficult for the agency to bear expenses on operation of the shop,” food controller L Mujalda told TOI.Each of these gram panchayats has one to four villages, while numbers of ration cardholders vary from 50 to 500 villagers. An eligible family is entitled to purchase limited quantity of wheat, rice and salt at Rs 1/kg from a fair price shop.Ration cardholders of Gavala panchayat have to travel 12 kilometre to Takun panchayat to purchase rations from fair price shop.Mujalda said that efforts were on to find a way out to solve this issue. They have planned to fix monthly remuneration for agency in gram panchayats, where number of ration cardholders is less, to help them earn some profit.

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