Now, consumers have a chance to access fair price shops without family cards and buy their choice of essential commodities, which are being sold through public distribution system.
With the handy device of ‘Sale of Point’ at the fair price shop, this new facility could be accessed to benefit consumers, Collector M. Ravikumar said here on Monday.
If any consumer forgot to bring his family card, which was earlier essential for buying such essential commodities, Aadhaar card with its unique identification number, that has been linked with the family card, could be used to get such commodities.
If any consumer failed to bring these two credentials, the consumer could use his mobile phone, which is registered in the family card and linked in the device to buy the essential commodities.
Explaining about the process with the aid of Point of Sale device, the Collector said the consumer should give his mobile phone number to the salesman in the fair price shop.
After recording the mobile phone number in the device, it would generate ‘one time password’ (OTP), which could be sent as an ‘SMS’ to the consumer’s mobile phone. With the help of the OTP, identity of the consumer would be verified in the device and subsequently the commodities preferred by the consumer would be supplied, Mr. Ravikumar said.
Of the 4.95 lakh family cards in the district, about 85 percent of mobile phone numbers and 66 percent of Aadhaar UID numbers of card holders had been registered in the devices being maintained in fair price shops, he said.
District Supply Officer, R. Chezhian said with the introduction of this facility, it would keep the bogus card users at bay.
Further, he said card holders could also download a mobile app – ‘TNEPDS’ and check the stock availability of commodities in FP shops and commodities bought from such shops in his account.
Besides, Aadhaar UID numbers of the cardholders could also be uploaded and linked with family cards after accessing the downloaded mobile app.
