THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The life of the ration shop licensees in the state has been disrupted after two months of wages were suspended. Many have come to the point where they have to take loans for daily expenses. 14,157 ration shop owners in the state are yet to receive the commission due in the months of August and September even after the first week of October. With life in crisis, the ration organizations are preparing for a concerted agitation against the central and state governments.

The order issued by the previous LDF government was to pay the commission to the ration traders within the fifth working day after the distribution of ration every month. Whereas the amount is usually received only by the middle of the next month. The traders find the money for the next month's ration items from this amount.

The central government has to pay the commission for the distribution of food grains to yellow and pink card holders and the state government for distribution to blue and white card holders. The government owes about Rs 28 crore to the ration shop licensees for distributing two months' worth of food grains to 93,94,821 cardholders in the state like this. The government paid wages for August only to a handful of shops in taluks.

Sorrow of ration traders

The rent of shops ranges from Rs.2000 to Rs.5,000. The assistant's salary is up to 5,000. The licensee should find the money for family expenses from what is left after this. The traders had demanded that the October rations be released from the depots deducting the amount from two months' wages, but the food department refused this proposal.

Scam in the name of minimum wage

The minimum commission for a ration shop licensee who distributes grain up to 45 quintals is Rs 18,000, but the shop owners say that they do not get even that. The reason is the system of the government. To get Rs 18,000, 70% of the cardholders named in that store must have bought grain from there or Rs 2,000 will be deducted. If it goes below 60%, then Rs. 2000 will be deducted again.