In a matter of months, all the 1,615 ration shops (Public Distribution System outlets) in Tiruvannamalai district will start using Point of Sales (POS) devices that would digitise and network all the data regarding cardholder families, stock and sales.
The operation of device was demonstrated to top officials including District Collector A.Gnanasekaran, District Revenue Officer S.Palani, District Supply Officer K. Savithiri, Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies (PDS) M. Mohan, Senior Regional Manager, Tamil Nadu Civil Supply Corporation G. Thenmozhi and some other cooperative department officials on Tuesday.
At the end of the demonstration, Mr. Gnanasekaran handed over a device to Mr. Mohan to mark the beginning of induction of the device in the PDS in the district. Mr. Mohan told The Hindu that training to all the salespersons on how to operate the device would be given from the first week of August.
On completion of training, they will be given the devises meant for their respective shop. Then cardholders’ details will be fed into the device. The actual induction may take place by December. The salesperson would enter details of commodities to be sold in the device and soon the cardholder would receive invoice through SMS.
The SMS would also state the pending quantity of supply that could be purchased later. Since all the data entered in the device goes online, it would be easy for officials to monitor sales in each shop, he added.