Journalism of Courage
Minister for Food,Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Anil Deshmukh has urged those possessing bogus ration cards to submit their cards to the department by month end or face the consequences.
After a review meeting on Friday,the minister said he was keen to bring about transparency in the system and also weed out malpractices.
Those who are in the APL category and possess BPL cards will have to submit their cards or face dire consequences. They should do so by June 30, he said at a press meet. The city has 9.5 lakh ration card holders..
To implement the PDS system in a better manner,he said that they have started the Geographical Positioning System for PDS vehicles as well as markers for the vehicles ferrying the supply for identification.
In an effort to modernise the system,he said biometric registration of all family members along with their finger prints will be carried out for the entire state.
The ration cards will be treated as a permanent card with multiple utility. To be introduced in the entire state,he said that they aim to connect 55,000 public distribution system ration shops to tehsil offices and the project cost is estimated between Rs 300-350 crore.Deshmukh said the tehsil offices which will be connected to all shops will also be connected to district supply offices. The ministry will also be connected to all shops through district supply offices. Once brought into use after a year,Maharashtra will be the first state in the country to have a modern monitoring system of PDS.
He said the government was of the view that ration cards with biometric registration could be used as multiple cards. These cards will be permanent and there won’t be a need for a new ration card in case of transfer or migrating to any city in the state. He said in order to make ration cards with biometric registration a multipurpose card and to avoid duplication,the state government will discuss the issue with chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India Nandan Nilekani.
Computerisation of all the shops will enable government to keep a check on the stock,dispatch and distribution of food grains in a transparent manner. The supply of PDS to home has already been initiated in the district and has received good response. District supply officer Ravi Kulkarni said that they have completed 57 villages and they would cover another 87 villages.
We are ensuring supply uptil August to the beneficiaries at their home, said the minister.
The Above Poverty Line (APL) category ration card holders will get additional quantity of supply with the government releasing more grains for the coming month.
The much discussed issuing of PDS to self help groups too would commence in the coming year he said.
The state government is also planning to rope in Pune and Nashik for having subsidised flour packets made available in various super markets. It would be on the lines of other packaged flour available in the market but because it would be done by the government it would be on subsidised rates. It will be 10 kg packets, Deshmukh said.
