Jobat (Madhya Pradesh): Scores of beneficiaries in Jobat tehsil of Alirajpur have not received ration for the last six months. One such incident was reported from Betwasa village society.

Many beneficiaries accused society’s salesman and manager of master-minding the alleged ration scam. The Central and the state governments have been spending huge amount of money to ensure that every beneficiary gets his/her share of ration.

The village is one of the tribal dominated villages of the district. Majority of families are solely dependent on the monthly ration to fulfil their daily needs.

However, they have failed to get the ration for the last five months. Villagers accused the society manager and the salesman of selling their rations in open market.

Beneficiaries claimed that on visiting ration shop, they were handed over a ration slip from the point of sale (POS) machine and asked to come back another day to collect the ration. The villagers said that on returning on the given day, they were denied the ration on the claim that the slip had already expired.

Beneficiaries said that sometimes they were told that ration was not available owing to short supply. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, when villagers staged a protest and shared their ordeal with reporters, society salesman purchased about 15 quintals of wheat from private place, transported it to the society, and decided to distribute it on Sunday.

Meanwhile, villagers demanded action against both salesman and society manager. They threatened protest outside Jobat SDM office in case there was no action against the duo.

When contacted, society manager Mahipal Ranawat said that for the last few months, they were getting less grain, and that’s why it was not distributed. If the allocation increases, they would distribute it.

Contacted, sarpanch representative Motesingh Bhuria said that they had been inquiring with society manager Mahipal Ranawat for the last five months, but he never cared to reply. The manager was accused of encouraging such practises, and administration should act against him. If this does not happen, we would launch a movement to curb such activities in village.