Lockdown sees a first for island off Gujarat coast: doorstep delivery of ration

Consignments of wheat, rice, chana daal, salt and sugar were transported from a government godown near Jafrabad town to a jetty of Pipavav port on April 7 and April 9. From the jetty, the consignments were loaded in two boats and shipped to the island. The ration was then loaded in six-seater rickshaws and delivered to a shop owned by one Shivabhai Shiyal.

Madhubhai Bambhaniya, owner of the fair price shop in the fisheries camp in Jafrabad town, then travelled to Shiyal Bet and distributed 20,500 kg free ration among 748 families of the island.

This is the first time that residents of Shiyal Bet have received subsidised foodgrain and ration supplied by the government under the PDS scheme on the island. “Until now, residents had to travel 22 km to the fisheries camp in Jafrabad (by ferry) every month to get their share of ration. It was an expensive affair, with the total fare of the boat ride and road trip coming to Rs 120,” Hamir Shiyal, husband of Shiyal Bet sarpanch Bhanuben said on Tuesday.

“Even if one made the trip to Jafrabad town, there was no guarantee that one would get ration the same day. As a result, many families used to forgo their ration. This is a good move by the government,” he added.

Hamir said they are hopeful that the village panchayat would take over the distribution aspect from next month.

Amreli district collector Ayush Oak said the government has now made permanent arrangements to distribute ration on the island. “They used to have their fair price shop in Jafrabad – on the shore – because most of them stay there and their ration cards are registered there. For the first time, we have made doorstep delivery of ration so that they don’t have to come to the shore,” Oak told The Indian Express, adding that residents of the island are adhering to the lockdown in the strictest possible manner.

Hamir said that there are four provision shops on the island, and most people who live on the island round the year purchase their ration and other daily essentials from there. Some people, he said, go to Rajula town 17 km away to buy other goods.

Most people in Shiyal Bet are involved in fishing; the remaining go to mainland Gujarat to work as agricultural labourers. There is no farmland on the island.

Sherkhan Pathan, revenue clerk of the island, said around 40 per cent of the residents live in fisheries camp in Jafrabad town during the fishing season but return to the island during the off season running between mid-June and mid-August every year.

K S Dabhi, sub-divisional magistrate of Rajula under whose jurisdiction Jafrabad falls, said special transport arrangements were made to ferry ration to the island. “The government has given contracts to transport ration from godowns to FPS. In this case, special arrangements were made so that residents of the island don’t have to travel to Jafrabad,” he said.

Hamir, who is also former sarpanch of the village, said he lent his boat to ferry ration from Pipavav port to Shiyal Bet without charging anything.

A release from the state information department said that ration was distributed among 449 families who are on the priority list under the National Food Security Act, 58 BPL families and 241 APL families.

“We had to go all the way to Jafrabad to get the PDS ration. It is a relief that this time round, wheat, rice, dal were delivered in our village itself. I hope this system continues in future also,” an official video released by the information department quoted Shantuben Chauhan, a resident of Shiyal Bet as saying.