Come next month, citizens of Haryana can get ration from any fair price shop in Haryana. Fair price shops in 15 districts are providing this facility under which a ration card holder can draw ration from any shop within the district. Haryana will be the first State in the country that has been started this beneficiary scheme.
It may be noted that from April 1, this facility was started in Ambala, Kaithal, Panchkula, Kurukshetra, Hisar and Bhiwani. The online system for maintaining records was started in Gurugram, Fatehabad, Jhajjar, Jind, Karnal, Mahendragarh, Rohtak, Yamuna Nagar and Sirsa on June 1 while the other districts will avail the facility from July 1.
To avail of the service, the Aadhaar cards of the ration cards holders will be attached together and all depot and data of beneficiaries will be online under the Public Distribution System (PDS). Once the facility is started, the cards holders will have to put their thumb impressions to the Point of Sale (PoS) machines installed at ration depots in order to get their rations.
“The online system will surely accord transparency of ration distribution system. It will also satisfy the card holders and the main thing is that the customers can avail services anywhere in Haryana,” SS Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary, Food and Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, said.
“With the facility, the department keeps an eye on the performance of depot holders as the high sale of ration at any shop would lead to more commission to the depot holder,” he said.
The card holders can register their Aadhaar and mobile numbers via Point of Sale (POS) machines. Also, if the customers do not have exact change, the amount will be deducted from their account that will be linked to the Aadhaar card.
Furthermore, the beneficiaries can also know about availability of grains in the depot via mobile messages. “As per the data around 22,825 beneficiaries have availed this facility out of the total 2,08,9479 ration card holders in the State,” Prasa said. Nearly 80 per cent of the Aadhaar cards had been linked with ration cards and work on the remaining was going on, he added.