The Joint Secretary (Sugar) in the central government’s Department of Food and Public Distribution visited Ri-Bhoi today to assess the effectiveness of food security schemes and evaluate the Public Distribution System (PDS).
During his visit Ashwini Srivastava inspected the Community Health Centre (CHC) at Umsaw Nongkharai, interacting with healthcare personnel to understand the linkages between public health services and food-related welfare programmes. He also visited the Fair Price Shop at Mawtnum, engaging with community members and PDS beneficiaries to gather feedback on food supply distribution, a press release stated today.
While beneficiaries expressed satisfaction with the current system, they collectively appealed for the inclusion of sugar among distributed commodities. Srivastava acknowledged this demand and assured that concerns would be conveyed to relevant authorities.
The visit concluded with a review meeting at the Pahamsyiem Community Hall, attended by local stakeholders and district officials. They discussed implementation challenges, shared field-level insights and proposed measures to strengthen service delivery under welfare schemes.
