Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Department was earlier known as Food and Supply Department , which was established in Kargil in the year 1958-59. The main objective of this department was to provide ration to the general public. This department earlier had only (7) sale centres in the entire District including Zanskar. In the year 2002-03, the name of the department was changed to Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution by the J&K Govt. At present 21,000 Nos. of Ration Tickets are catered by 197 sale outlets in the District under PDS, where from Ration like Rice, Atta, Sugar and K.oil etc is being issued to the rationees on cash payment against Govt. approved rate and scale.
The function of the Department at present is not only to provide ration to the people but to monitor the availability of all essential commodities, their rates, standard and mode of distribution. Besides this department also redresses Public Grievances as well. For distribution of ration, presently four schemes are implemented in the department viz APL, BPL, AAY, ANP. The detail of the scheme wise number of ration tickets and souls is given as under :-
| S.No | Name Of Scheme | No. of Ration Tickets | No. of Souls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | APL | 11892 | 78200 |
| 2 | BPL | 7522 | 40800 |
| 3 | AAY | 4336 | 24295 |
| 4 | ANP | 250 | 250 |
Earlier this department was catering ration to the public through (07) sanctioned Stores on as which is now increased to 54 sanctioned Stores and 143 internal adjustment sale centres, which is purely run by the existing man power of the Department to facilitate the General public at their door steps .
For issuance of ration tickets, a rationee has to fill up the devised scheme wise Declaration Form of the department and submit the same duly attested/ authenticated by the public representative, like Surpanch, Namberdar and concerned Halqa Panch and then verified by the concerned Tehsil Supply Officer of this department. The issued ration tickets are accordingly renewed after every two years. For issuing BPL and AAY Ration Tickets the income ceiling and other status like cultivatable land /property etc as authenticated by the Public Representatives in the Declaration Forms against the related Columns are taken in to consideration but within the sanctioned quota. However for issuance of ANP Ration tickets, the beneficiary should be an identified person by the Elected public representatives like M.P, MLA and MLC of the concerned constituencies having the age of above 60 years and not getting any monthly financial assistance from the Social Welfare Department under any scheme.
