Proposal of setting up micro-ATMs at all ration depots in pipeline in Faridabad district

Faridabad, March 1

The Food and Supplies Department is likely to install micro-ATMs at all ration depots in the city and district. Around 1.93 lakh ration card holders are expected to get benefited.

Dept yet to get directions

Though such a plan is reported to be in the pipeline, the department is yet to get necessary directions and orders. An official, food and supplies department

Sources in the district administration said that a plan to this effect had been in the pipeline and the authorities of the Civil Supplies Department have launched a scheme in this connection on pilot basis in some of the districts in the first phase. The micro-ATM facility at the ration depots will not only provide easy and safe facility of withdrawal and depositing of the money by the ration card holders but also for the general public, who will be able to use it at their convenience, it is claimed. Faridabad is among those districts which have been chosen for the initiative, it is reported.

At present, the district has around 1.93 lakh ration card holding beneficiaries said the district officials. These include card holders of OPH category- Khaki coloured cards (other priority households) whose number is around 1.45 lakh in the district. Besides these, 31,092 beneficiaries of yellow card- SBPL (state below poverty line and 11,400- CBPL (central below poverty line) are to be benefitted.

“The matter came up at a meeting of the Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department headed by the Deputy CM recently, in which the decision regarding micro- ATMs at the ration depots in five districts, including Faridabad, Gurugram, Hisar, Karnal and Panchkula on the pilot basis was announced,” said the sources.

The consumers drawing ration will be able to deposit money and withdraw from these points and the facility will be provided by the banks with the help of the ration card depot holders. The depot holders might also be offered a commission for operating this facility, for which a formal training will also be provided, it is added. The facility will also be open for other residents, it is revealed.

“Though such a plan is reported to be in the pipeline, the department is yet to get necessary directions and orders,” said an official of the Food and Supply Department here.

To also help general public

The micro-ATM facility at the ration depots will not only provide easy and safe facility of withdrawal and depositing of the money by the ration card holders but also for the general public, who will be able to use it at their convenience.