Jamshedpur, June 23: The state food, public distribution and consumer affairs department has rolled out an outbound voice message service for around 57 lakh ration card holders with mobile phones to help them lodge complaints about poor quality food and PDS supplies and ensure speedy remedy.
State food and civic supplies minister Saryu Roy, on whose initiative the campaign was launched in the steel city yesterday, said a private Ranchi-based agency had been hired to call up consumers and raise awareness about adulterated and poor quality food items. A pre-recorded voice asks consumers to register their grievances at a 24X7 toll-free number 18002125512 or send text or WhatsApp message to 8969583111.
"It is a step towards making the consumer aware of their rights and provide them a platform to lodge their grievances," Roy said.
Initially, the agency, called Baba Computers, will call up only ration card holders whose mobile numbers they have access to.
"Gradually, we will request mobile companies to share their customer database with us. Any complaints regarding ration supplies will be looked into immediately by the district supply officers, while food products will be dealt with by district-level consumer complaint committee," Roy added.
According to Nitesh Gupta of Baba Computers, the district supply officer will the immediately informed about any complaint against PDS (public distribution system) outlets. Besides probing the genuineness of the complaint within 24 hours, the officer should report about the action taken against the ration shop owner.
The district-level consumer committee will direct the respective district health department officials to look into complaints against low-quality food products.
Saryu Roy had earlier this year launched a public grievance management system portal called Nivaran Kendra for his Assembly constituency (Jamshedpur West) that enabled people to lodge their grievances through toll-free number 18001212395 and landline number 0651-7122702/3. Besides, one can send SMS or WhatsApp to 8340538723, email the minister at info@saryuroymla.in" info@saryuroymla.in or visit the website www.saryuroy.in" www.saryuroy.in.
