Bengaluru: The Department of Food and Civil Supplies plans to issue coupons once in three months for ration card-holders to avail groceries from fair price shops, according to U T Khader, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies.
Speaking with media persons here on Saturday, Minister Khader said the department used to issue coupons to ration card-holders once in a month. “Now we have decided to issue coupons to the ration card-holders for three months at a time from next month. As per this plan, the ration card-holders get coupons for three months – October, November and December,” Minister Khader said.
The minister said that the objective of the coupon system is to prevent wastage and pilferage of groceries at the fair price shops. “Now we have made linking of Aadhar numbers with the ration cards mandatory. All family members have to link their Aadhar numbers with the ration cards to avail groceries from fair price shops,” the minister said.
He said that several people, who have linked their Aadhar numbers to ration cards, have already been issued coupons and distribution of coupons has already begun. “Among the 31,49,948 ration card-holders, 15,19,854 ration card-holders have already availed the coupons through 5,538 fair price shops,” he said.
Coupons in rural areas
The food and civil supplies department has made arrangements to issue coupons in rural areas where there is no Internet connectivity or electricity. “We have allocated two android mobile phones taluks to generate and issue coupons to the ration-card holders. The staffs of food and civil supplies department will visit the selected fair price shops or locations to issue coupons for the benefit of ration card-holders in rural areas,” the minister said.
APL cards online
Arrangements have been made to issue above poverty line (APL) cards online. If everything goes as per plan, the food civil supplies department will start issuing APL cards online within 10 days. “With this system, the applicant can generate APL card printout online and can avail groceries. After verification, the food and civil supplies department will send the hardcopy of the APL card through Speed Post. The beneficiary has to bear the cost of the card and other expenses. The amount can be given to the postman after receiving the APL card,” said Harsh Gupta, Secretary, Department of Food and Civil Supplies.
