Delhi government department Facebook page receives 4,000 queries in a month

The ministry of food supplies and consumer affairs has become the Delhi government's first department to open a Facebook account to address consumer grievances with ration offices and fair price shops, PTI reported today.

According to the department, it received over 4,000 queries and complaints since its launch a month ago.

The page allows people to give suggestions, file complaints, upload photos and videos of any irregularity in the fair price shops and ration offices.

Secretary-cum-commissioner food supplies and consumer affairs S S Yadav said in New Delhi yesterday that the purpose to the Facebook page was to provide an effective tool for two-way communication between the department and lakhs of ration card holders and other people of Delhi.

He added, the department had provided information regarding the rates and entitlement of specified food articles supplied by the department under the Public Distribution System on the Facebook page.

The page also provides information about the activities, new policies and initiatives of the department to the people.

Yadav added the department was encouraging people to post videos and photos on the page if they found any irregularity in any ration office or the fair price shop.

Under the first-of-its-kind initiative by any Delhi government agency, over a dozen fair price shop owners had been booked by the department over the last one month based on the complaints received from people on its Facebook page.

Also the page, launched about a month back, had received over 4,000 complaints, queries and suggestions from the ration card holders across the city.

He added, a show-cause notice was served to the fair price shop owners against whom complaints were registered. He said, after issuing a notice, fines had been imposed against over a dozen shop owners, The Hindu reported.

Official said, going by the trends, the page which carries a punchline,  Aapka Rashan, Aapka Haq (Your ration, your entitlement) had instantly become popular among the people.

According to Yadav, in a short span of one month, the department had been able to reach out to over 52,000 people through the posts on the page. The fan following of the page had increased rapidly and the number of likes stood at 3,685 so far.

He added, the department had received over 4,000 queries, complaints and comments on the page.

According to officials, a majority of the complaints received were related to untimely closure of ration shops, cleanliness, besides enquiries about the status and delivery of the new food security cards being issued by the department.