From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Nov 9: In a move that promises to improve efficiency and bring more competition in the public distribution system, the State Government has come out with a new scheme to allow ration card holders to buy their foodgrains from any of the ration shops in Karnataka.

Karnataka’s Food and Civil Supplies Minister U T Khadar, who announced the introduction of the new system at a news conference in Bengaluru on Thursday, said the move was aimed at improving the efficiency and competition among the ration shops to provide better service to the ration card holders.

Under the scheme, the ration card holders are allowed to buy their quota of foodgrains by producing the ration cards from any ration shop in the State every month. The only requirement is that the ration shop at both places must have point-of-sale (POS) machines to enable that the facility was not misused as the machines will be able to read the data and track, he explained.

The facility to allow ration cards from any ration shop in the State would enable ration card holders in Mangaluru to get their monthly quota in Bengaluru or in any other district when they shift, the minister said.

Khadar said the State Government has introduced biometric system of all beneficiaries to ensure that the foodgrains reach the actual beneficiaries and also to prevent misuse or diversion.

With the introduction of biometric system in all ration shops across the State, the minister said increasing the commission payable to ration shop owners was     also under consideration.

Pointing out that the Department has already distributed BPL cards to 10 lakh persons, he said BPL cards would be distributed to all the 16 lakh applicants by December 15.

Submission of income and caste certificates was the major hurdle, he said and promised to ensure that the problems would be sorted out by December 15.

After clearing the backlog for distribution of BPL cards, he said plans were afoot to distribute temporary cards in all taluk offices upon submission of caste and income certificates from January onwards.

The minister said identification of the Anila Bhagya beneficiaries was underway and the committees headed by legislators in each district have been asked to send their list within a week.