Tuesday, October 25, 2016

The ration card woes and other stories.

1. The ration card woes.

The new ration cards will be issued shortly, it has been announced. The work on the issue of new cards was initiated by the previous UDF regime with much fanfare but lost steam, somewhere in between, thus robbing the government from projecting it as yet another achievement!

In this case, too, the people who're deployed by the government to collect the data, obviously did not do their job correctly or were ignorant of what they were supposed to do, judging from the numerous complaints that have cropped up consequent to the availability on the drafts of the new cards online. Over the last few weeks, there have been serpentine queues of people - demanding correction of their personal data - outside the panchayat and village offices, all over the state.

The main problem seems to be that everyone yearns to be in the 'BPL' or below poverty line category so that they can enjoy the benefits, earmarked by the government, for the poor. Imagine a guy driving down to a ration depot outlet in his spanking new car and collecting the rations that he's entitled to by virtue of him being in the below poverty line category!

Truth and ethics have been chucked out of the window, it seems and nobody cares a damn! Sad!!

2. Abysmally low levels of petrol and diesel in bunks.

The tanker truck owners were on strike for the last five days creating a situation when low levels of petroleum stocks were reported in the fuel outlets, all over the state. Consequently, it was a common sight to see a huge clutter of vehicles awaiting their turn at the petrol bunks every time and during peak hours, the crowd was unmanageable in the sense that the waiting vehicles spilled over onto the thoroughfare, affecting the smooth flow of traffic.

The trucks that ferry fuel to the retail outlets from the Kochi and Kozhikode depots of the IOC were on strike pressing for the modification of the tender conditions, including fare. There's a meeting scheduled, this evening, with the minister to sort out the issue.

Imagine the cascading effect it makes on the prices, putting additional burden on the common man. But does anyone care?


Tailpiece.

Suresh was taken into the operation theatre for his surgery and as per last reports it's nearing its close and should finish before midnight!

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