NT NETWORK
MAPUSA
Out of 83 fair price shops in Bardez taluka, five shops have been identified by the Civil Supplies Department for installation of biometric system-based point of sales (POS) machines, on a pilot basis.
The fair price shops where the Aadhar card coverage is maximum were short-listed. The fair price shops run by co-operative societies are given preference.
In Bardez, there are around 83 fair price shops, which are spread across 33 villages. And, around 50,890 households have enrolled with the Civil Supplies Department.
Under Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), there are around 1612 cards; under priority household (PHH) category there are 21,168 cards; under above poverty level category, there are 28105 families, and under ANP category, there are 5 cards.
The department after conducting a detailed study has identified five fair prices for installing biometric machine on a pilot basis. Of the five fair prices, four are run by co-operative and one by individual.
These shops include a shop run by Duler V K S Co-operative Society at Duler, which covers around 1071 cardholders, a shop run by Guirim Sangolda Co-operative Society which covers more than 1,000 cardholders, fair price shop run by Mapusa Consumer Co-operative Society which has got around 2197 cardholder and a fair price at Colvale which is run by Vimal Azgaonkar.
When contacted, director of Civil Supplies Vikas Gaunekar said, “The fair price shops have been identified, depending on the coverage percentage of Aadhar cards of beneficiaries. Fair price shops with maximum percentage have been identified for installing the biometric machines on a pilot basis.”
He further said “Preference has been given to shops run by co-operative societies. The machines will be subsequently installed at all the fair price shops.”
On June 1, a workshop was organised by the Civil Supplies Department on machine operation for officials and the selected fair price shop owners.
Commenting on use of biometric machine, he said, “When a beneficiary will visit a fair price shop to purchase ration his Aadhar card details will be fed into the machine. Following this, finger impression will be registered on the machine, this will then authenticate the biometric details of the ration cardholder before generating the bill.”
“With the use of biometric machines, the department will be able to curb the malpractice of selling subsidised foodgrains in the open market by the fair price shop owners,” he added.