In order to check rampant irregularities in the public distribution system, fair price shops in Jharkhand to go hi-tech and will be connected through the State headquarters enabling the officials to monitor at the State level.
Presently, the system being run successfully at Ormanjhi block in Ranchi as a pilot project will be extended gradually to the other parts of the State.
“Over 22.5 thousand fair price shops will be equipped with hand held machines with printers and biometric finger print scanners attached together which could be connected with the tablet through Bluetooth,” said Special Secretary, Food and Supply department Ravi Ranjan.
“End to end computerisation of PDS shops are being done in Jharkhand,” said Ranjan.
According to Ranjan, work is in progress under three heads — firstly, digitization of beneficiary database, secondly supply chain management and thirdly, automation of fair price shops. Work is being done in all the three areas, he added.
Ranchi and Dhanbad have been identified to launch the system as a pilot project, which could gradually be extended to other parts of the State accordingly after removing the loopholes, if found in it.
“The system has already been launched in Ormanjhi block of Ranchi, connecting 73 shops to the headquarters in Ranchi. We are getting day to day reports from all these shops of the block,” Ranjan said enthusiastically. Gobindpur in Dhanbad will also be connected soon through this system in the second step, he said.
All other expenses like maintenance and internet charges for the tablet will be borne by the government, added Ranjan. Fair price shop owners, on the other hand, are also quite excited with the introduction of the new system.
“It’s good to have the latest technology in the PDS system. Barring some minor connectivity related problems we are not facing any other problem, said a PDS dealer Sanjay Kumar in Ormanjhi. Now, no any other persons without having Adhaar card can claim grains from us, he added.
“The moment we give grains to anybody, it could be seen by the officials sitting in Ranchi,” said Kumar, Moreover, handling of HHD is also very easy which could be operated by a layman also, he added.
The project is being delayed due to the elections but it is likely to get a boost
after May 16.