Live
- Chanchalguda Jail Officials Say They Haven't Received Bail Papers Yet, Allu Arjun May Stay in Jail Tonight
- BJP leaders present evidence of illegal voters in Delhi, urge EC for swift action
- Exams will not be cancelled: BPSC chairman
- Nagesh Trophy: Karnataka, T.N win in Group A; Bihar, Rajasthan triumph in Group B
- YS Jagan condemns the arrest of Allu Arjun
- Economic and digital corridors to maritime connectivity, India and Italy building vision for future, says Italian Ambassador
- SMAT 2024: Patidar's heroics guide Madhya Pradesh to final after 13 years
- CCPA issues notices to 17 entities for violating direct selling rules
- Mamata expresses satisfaction over speedy conviction in minor girl rape-murder case
- Transparent Survey Process for Indiramma Housing Scheme Directed by District Collector
PDS vehicles to be fitted with GPS by Oct-end
At least 800 vehicles of PDS (Public Distribution System) would be attached with GPS (Global Positioning System) by the end of this month in the first phase as part of the government’s efforts to contain pilferage. This will include vehicles transporting grains and also kerosene.
Hyderabad: At least 800 vehicles of PDS (Public Distribution System) would be attached with GPS (Global Positioning System) by the end of this month in the first phase as part of the government’s efforts to contain pilferage. This will include vehicles transporting grains and also kerosene.
According to the officials, attaching vehicles with GPS would help government keep vehicles in check. The measure will ensure that the vehicle directly reaches the destination and prevents diversion to any other location on its route map.
These tracking devices will help put a stop to diversion of commodities or kerosene at Stage 1 (godown to mandal level stock list) and Stage 2 (mandal level stock list to PDS point).
The technical committee recently conducted the meeting on the issue and the process of tenders was being initiated. The entire process was being handled by APTS (Andhra Pradesh Technology Services) Tenders, as it was less than Rs 5 crore.
“Currently the contract is less than Rs 5 crore, hence APTS Tenders is taking care of process,” said Commissioner of Civil Supplies, Rajath Kumar.
Besides this, to avoid further pilferage, government would be coming up with EPOS (Electronic Point of Sale) machines to take the fingerprints of the beneficiaries as well as the dealers. This will ensure that the commodities reach the beneficiaries holding the Food Security Card.
It identifies the beneficiaries based on Aadhaar seeding and issue commodities allotted by the dynamic key register generated each month.
Even before these services are launched, the crackdown against the dealers of rations cards saved government several crores of rupees worth rice.
It helped the government deactivate 12 lakh ration cards during this year, saving at least Rs 200 crores worth of PDS rice.
Fair price shop dealers of Rangareddy district, known for their notoriety voluntarily surrendered 54,013 ration cards, covering about 1.89 lakh units.
In the district, under the surveillance of government, 1,103 metric tonnes of rice was saved, almost 10 per cent of total allocation.
Closing balance which averaged about 200 metric tonnes per month in the past has increased to almost 2,000 metric tonnes in the end of August, which was more than seven fold increase.
During the recent months, the school authorities from the districts complained that the quality of superfine rice supplied by government was compromised.
Crackdown against the erring PDS supply chain ensured that the schools get what was promised. “After we made representations that the quality was not being maintained, prompt action was taken.
We are now receiving quality rice,” said P Satyanarayana, general secretary, PRTU (Progressive Recognised Teachers Union) of Adilabad. The PRTU had recently complained about quality of rice.
By:Md Nizamuddin
