To bring transparency in distribution and check pilferage under the public distribution system (PDS) in Punjab, the State Food and Civil Supplies Department is in the process of acquiring Point of Sale (PoS) machines for fair price shops.
The machines are handheld devices which will allow Aadhaar authentication at the moment of distribution, ensuring that beneficiaries receive their allocated ration, a spokesperson said.
The PoS machine also has a scale which will ensure that the beneficiary receives their full amount of ration.
Additionally, these PoS machines allow real time location information, allowing the department to track the movement of food grains from storage godowns to the receipt of ration beneficiary at the Point of Sale, the spokesperson said.
All such information allows for greater transparency and accountability in the scheme, effectively eliminating the chances of pilferage, and increasing the management capability of the department, he said.
Spokesperson said that the device related to the computerization of operations at fair price shops is based on Aadhaar authentication.
All fair price shops (FPSs) will be equipped with PoS terminals for the purpose of authenticating and verifying beneficiaries before commodity distribution, said the spokesperson.
One crucial feature of the process is that the closing balances were updated in database through all PoS transaction from FPS.
PoS terminal comes with in-built finger print scanner designed for PDS and all Aadhaar based transactions, the spokesperson said, adding that it was based on charge coupled device (CCD) finger print and comes with connectivity options like GSM or GPRS, CDMA and Ethernet.
Divulging salient features of e-PoS, spokesperson said that it had touch screen TFT lCD, virtual keypad on lCD, QWERTY keypad, build-in magnetic swipe card reader, smart card reader or contactless reader, bluetooth, high performance STQC certified optical sensor, finger print scanner, in-built speaker for announcements and inbuilt GPS.
likewise, the services provided through e-PoS application included delivery of wheat through online Aadhaar authentication of ration card holders, sale of PDS commodities, cashless transactions and creating awareness.
Apart from this, POS supports interfaces with all types of payment gateways and Aadhaar server with related logical interfaces for magnetic stripe reader and smart card reader for Aadhaar authentication.
Spokesperson said that it would reduce diversion, besides ensuring transparency in the movement of wheat from de-centralized procurement (DCP) godown to the Point of Sale.
In addition, it would also ensure generation of delivery order, truck challans, receipts enabling tracking of stock movement from DCP godowns to FPS or Point of Sale besides obtaining up-to-date statements of stock lifting and available stock at various stock points.