Govt to provide ration through e-PoS machines

Tribune News Service

Patiala, June 28

The Punjab Government has decided to give foodgrains to the beneficiaries through electronic point of sale (e-PoS) machines.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Kumar Amit on Thursday said, “As many as 8.20 lakh beneficiary from 2, 12, 000 families will get the ration through 78 e-PoS machines in Patiala.” 

He said these machines would make the system transparent and efficient, which would further benefit the beneficiaries of the Smart Card Ration Distribution scheme.

The DC added that the beneficiary families would get ration from 950 shops (ration depots) at a low price. “The details of the shops have been uploaded on the website of the Food Supplies Department,” he said.

Smart card holders in the state are getting 30 kg of foodgrains per person at a subsidised rate of Rs 2 per kg for six months.

The DC said as per the provisions of the National Food Security Act, the Punjab Government had decided to computerised the entire mechanism under the "Targeted PDS" system to further distribute ration through smart cards. 

“Besides consumer biometric identification for ration distribution through smart card, e-PoS machines have been equipped with eye-screen scanning and weighing grains. The step to digitize the mechanism will help identify fake ration cards,” Kumar Amit said.