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ePoS set to begin from Oct-end
With an aim at bringing more transparency in the Public Distribution System (PDS) in the State, the Civil Supplies Department has decided to introduce biometric mechanism in the distribution of foodgrains through the PDS from October end. Currently, the project is being implemented on a pilot basis in the city.
​Hyderabad: With an aim at bringing more transparency in the Public Distribution System (PDS) in the State, the Civil Supplies Department has decided to introduce biometric mechanism in the distribution of foodgrains through the PDS from October end. Currently, the project is being implemented on a pilot basis in the city.
The technology is named as ePoS (Electronic Point of Sale) and would be adopted in all the districts. According to officials, the department has initiated the process of inviting tenders for the equipment. The process is being speeded up to ensure that the government saves at least 30 per cent of the revenue on the distribution of essential commodities, which otherwise end up in the blackmarkets. The pilot project, which began with 50 shops last year, has so far covered 1,545 Fair Price Shops (FPS) in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts.
“We are in the process of making the PDS service completely IT-enabled to help people collect the essential commodities easily and to avert any possibility of diversion of foodgrains in the PDS,” said a senior official.
While the Telangana State is yet to spread the technology to parts other than Hyderabad and Rangareddy areas in the State, the AP government has already implemented it in 28,000 shops.
As per the guidelines of the Centre for Innovations in Public Systems (CIPS), the Fair Price Shop dealers will first login into the ePoS device with his biometric authentication and then enter the card number of the beneficiary.
Once the card number is entered, the ePoS device will display ration card holders details with Aadhar-seeded details. If the ration card is not seeded with Aadhaar, the dealer has to perform seeding by collecting Aadhar number from the citizen and later update the BFD (Best Finger Detection) status in the ePoS.
The authentication of the beneficiary will be recorded through the best finger method. It is believed that the adoption process was delayed due to certain objections raised by the FPS dealers, who influenced the decision making within the department.
