Minister Urges FPS Dealers To Avoid Proposed Strike

Minister for Civil Supplies Gangula Kamalakar has appealed to the Fair Price Shop (FPS) dealers of the State to avoid their proposed strike as the State government was ready to hold talks with them and resolve their problems.

Kamalakar held a meeting with Civil Supplies Commissioner V Anil Kumar and other senior officials at his residence today and discussed the distribution of rice through the FPS in Telangana following a call given by the FPS dealers asking the State government to resolve their "long pending" demands.

He said that the State government had already held a series of meetings with the dealers' associations, and that the officials were directed to look into their demands as early as possible.

He added that the department had once again decided to hold talks with the associations on May 22, and urged the dealers to avoid their proposed strike.

He said that there were a total of 17,220 Fair Price Shops in Telangana, and that the State government was spending about Rs 3,580 crore for the distribution of rice and other provisions through the FPSs every year, resulting in over Rs 12 crore in commission to the ration dealers, which was no small sum, and asked the latter to be reasonable.

The officials were in any case also directed to prepare an action plan to ensure that the distribution of rice and other provisions through the FPS should not be stopped even if the dealers went on strike.