Express news service : Lucknow, Fri Jul 06 2012, 05:01 hrs
Will help get rid of duplicate, fake ration cards
The state government has decided to introduce biometric smart cards as ration cards in Public Distribution System (PDS) in the state. It will start rolling out the cards in 18 districts across the state on a pilot basis.
The announcement was made by Chief Secretary Jawed Usmani today during the meeting of state project e-mission team formed for computerisation of the PDS system here.
The biometric card will store the finger print of the beneficiary and the identification of the beneficiary will be essential at the point of sale (POS) machine before the vendor provides the beneficiary with the food grain, said a press release issued by the government. The POS machine will be in the custody of fair price shop dealer. If the POS machine is not working, for the first time, the vendor will have to immediately mend the machine. But if the machine still does not work, the agreement of the dealer will be cancelled. Manual distribution of food grains and ration without the POS machine will not be permissible Usmani said .
Calling it a revolutionary step in implementation of PDS, the chief secretary said that with the implementation of the scheme, no more fake ration cards can be made. He also said if the vendors posed problems in implementation of the new system, they will be dealt with severely.
He said the smart cards will also ensure that one family does not have more than one ration card. The beneficiary will himself have to collect foodgrain, thus, preventing the chances of foodgrain reaching anyone else apart from the eligible beneficiary.
In the first phase, one district will be selected in each of the 18 divisions for the pilot project. After that, the project will be expanded in all the 75 districts. Usmani also said that from July 31, the process of allotting fair price shops will begin online.