Measures afoot to make PDS transparent, pilferage proof: Zulfkar

RAJOURI, NOVEMBER 20: Minister for Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs and Tribal Affairs Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali today said the government has undertaken a slew of measures to ensure digitization of Public Distribution System to make it more transparent, accountable and pilferage proof.

The Minister said this after launching a POS machine under e-PDS Project at Government Sale Depot, Alpha Gate Rajouri.

Present on the occasion were Commissioner Secretary FCS & CAs M. D. Khan, DDC Dr. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, Controller Legal Metrology R.K. Katoch, Nodal Officer e-PDS Project Arun Kotwal, AD FCS & CAs Javid Iqbal and other officers of district administration.

 Speaking on the occasion, Zulfkar Ali informed that in the first phase, 15 ration depots in the district are being brought under the ambit of e-PDS Project and in the next three months it will be replicated in all fair price shops across the district once the cent percent Aadhaar Seeding of all rationees is completed.

 He further informed that POS machines are connected to a server that uploads every transaction on the portal and can be monitored in any part of the country anytime. These Aadhaar linked POS machines also display price, scale and credentials of the consumer which leaves no space for any malpractice in the system, he added.

“The government is mulling to provide pulses at highly subsidized rates through ration depots besides provision of laptops at these depots so that these can become centers of other activities like ticketing, form filling etc.” Zulfkar informed.

 He exhorted that the Government has adopted best practices of the country and applied technology such as GIS tagging of depots, online allocation of food grains, digitization of records and GPS linking of trucks utilized for transportation of food grains to make the distribution chain transparent and to arrest the remotest chance of pilferage and black marketing.

Referring to very few complaints received on Online Grievance Redressal Portal in spite of 28 Lakh rationees in the state, Zulfkar expressed satisfaction that the present dispensation, in short span of two and half years, has been successful to assess the issue of shortage of food grains in the state.

Later, the Minister laid foundation stone of Rs. 1 crore attendant Sarai at District Hospital under Tribal Sun-Plan. He directed the concerned to immediately start the construction work on the Sarai and set a deadline of 4 months for completion of the project so that it can be put to use for public.