Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies Dinesh Gundu Rao on Thursday said that to avoid misuse of the foodgrains allotted under the public distribution system, it had been planned to install biometric scanners at fair price depots.
The hand-held biometric scanners linked with the Aadhaar card number of beneficiaries would be provided to all 20,000 fair price depots across the State. Foodgrains would be issued after checking the fingerprints of the cardholder.
Any member of the family whose name is mentioned in the ration card could buy foodgrains after entering their biometric information. The process of purchasing biometric scanners and installation of servers for their operation would commence soon, he said at a press conference here on Thursday.
The government was thinking of invoking the Prevention of Black Marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act against those misusing the rice allotted under Anna Bhagya scheme. The department had set September 30 as the deadline for voluntary surrender of bogus below poverty line (BPL) cards. After the expiry of the deadline, the department would crackdown on those possessing bogus ration cards. In the last two months, the department had cancelled 2.65 lakh bogus BPL cards, he said.
Mr. Rao said that the department had issued 22 lakh new ration cards in the last two years.
Officials had been cautioned to issue fresh ration cards after verifying and ascertaining the information provided by the applicants, thoroughly.
Henceforth, disciplinary action would be initiated against the officials responsible for issuance of bogus ration cards, he said.
Planning to invoke Prevention of Black Marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act against those misusing the rice allotted under Anna Bhagya scheme.
Dinesh Gundu Rao,
Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies
