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PDS set to come under social media glare
Consumers of PDS (Public Distribution System) can now directly communicate with the higher officials, with the help of social networking websites.
Complaints on the system can be lodged through ‘WhatsApp’ other social media websites, which will become operational from the first week of February
Hyderabad: Consumers of PDS (Public Distribution System) can now directly communicate with the higher officials, with the help of social networking websites.
First-of-its-kind initiative in the State, the grievances and complaints of citizens will be now recorded online through WhatsApp and other social media websites, which will become operational from the first week of February.
According to officials, as part of its objective to reach out to the general citizens, the department has come up with the idea of connecting through social media websites including WhatsApp and Facebook.
In the first phase, it has decided to establish a link through a ‘mobile number’ exclusively using WhatsApp, within the next 10 days.
Through this connectivity, not only consumers, but also anyone who wishes to complain on irregularities may forward the details in the form of information or pictures.
“No department in Telangana has come up with such an idea. It will be just like consumer helpline, but anyone can contact online for complaining about incidents like diversions of PDS rice or kerosene. The rest would be dealt by the Enforcement wing,” informed an official.
The Civil Supplies Department which has embarked upon a modernisation process will be coming up with its own IT wing in February, which will handle ‘Command & Control’ and ‘Social Media’ cells.
While the Command Control will monitor the movement of vehicles and godowns of Civil Supplies Department through GPS, the Social Media will be in direct communication with citizens.
Besides the IT wing, the department will have Enforcement Wing (Task Force), Finance Wing, Technical Wing and Engineering Wing, which according to officials will incur an annual expenditure of Rs 9 crore. “The efficient functioning prompted by these wings could save hundreds of crores for the government,” believes the official.
The Command & Control with GPS attached to over 1,150 trucks will monitor all PDS related movements. The installation of CCTV cameras at 171 MLS (Mandal Level Stocklist) points will monitor the movement of these vehicles at the offices of Commissioner and Joint Collector.
While the starting of Command & Control Centre at head office will provide feed on daily operations. On the other hand, software like OPMS (Online Procurement Management System), SCM (Supply Chain Management), FMS (Financial Management System) will help in achieving the objective of achieving 100 percent ‘cashless transactions’.
“To develop all these IT initiatives, 2 IT project managers, 3 system associates, 20 field level coordinators, 40 mandal level coordinators and 2 project associates are being appointed through CGG (Centre for Good Governance),” added the official.
