Punjab Government has, in collaboration with OLA, developed a unique centralized automated logic-based technology platform for issuance of e-passes to the 17 lakh odd farmers in the State, along with online management and regulation of all trolleys and vehicular movement in the mandis.
The initiative has been adopted by the Punjab Mandi Board to launch an e-pass system with the help of Department of Governance Reforms and Public Grievances, in an effort to further streamline the procurement operations in the backdrop of the Covid-19 crisis.
The OLA app, installed on the mobile phones of the farmers, shall also alert them on the rush spots at the mandi gates to check overcrowding. App’s centralized dashboard, a unique initiative aligned to the social distancing guidelines of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, shall also give alerts on pass issuance, expiry and validation.
This unique system enables Market Committees Secretaries across the State to generate mobility passes for farmers by the purchase centers as well as by the ahrtiyas. The software generates the required number of passes automatically, based on historic data available with the Mandi Board.
All arhtiyas shall be provided with one pass for one trolley of wheat. The passes for a particular day are provided three days before to the arhtiyas, to prevent any kind of rush. This automated technology solution removes all unnecessary bias and opportunities of favouritism, thus bringing in transparency to the process.
The arhtiyas shall distribute these mobility passes to their farmers to enable the latter to come on the designated date at the concerned purchase center. The farmer shall also receive an SMS with pass number and link to download the app.
“Apart from the e-pass system, an mPass system has also been developed in the ePMB mobile application. A Unicode SMS is sent to every arhtiya at the time of pass issuance. The arhtiya can allocate the passes to trolley drivers through in-built mPass system. The drivers can then download the mPass using the SMS received on his number, and use this mPass at various Police Nakas for permitted mobility,” said the state Additional Chief Secretary, Development, Vishwajit Khanna.
Khanna said that the online vehicular management shall help the Board maintain law and order protocols as well as DHS guidelines in the mandis.
Punjab Mandi Board secretary and Governance Reforms special secretary Ravi Bhagat said that with features such as geo-tagging, geo-hashing, alerts and emergency support, this unique technology solution will help the government manage mandi operations well.