Bhubaneswar: In sync with the Centre’s one nation one ration card proposal, the state government has planned to implement the same in the state in a phased manner.
Beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and the State Food Security Scheme will soon avail their ration from any fair price shop across the state. The Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare (FS&CW) department has started executing the proposal.
According to sources, the new system will be introduced in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) area on a pilot basis from September 1. The FS&CW department has instructed Khurda Collector to execute it. The system will be introduced in 127 fair price shops functioning in 67 wards of BMC, they said.
If the system is implemented successfully, families who have ration cards will be able to buy rice or any foodgrains at any fair price shop anywhere in the capital city. However, the ration card holder needs to link his or her card with her Aadhaar and telephone number to avail the service.
Details of the beneficiaries will be linked to EPoS with the support of NIC. Thus, by giving their fringe prints, they will avail their entitlements from any subsidized shop within the city. As the card will be linked to Aadhaar number, the ration card holder cannot avail food grains from two shops, the sources said. However, the beneficiaries, who cannot enroll themselves in Aadhaar due to physical problem, they will continue to get the benefits by producing certificates issued by the marketing inspector.
Ten states — Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana and Tripura – are already offering the portability services, Union Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had said. Delhi has also begun implementing this.
The FCI godowns have been made online and the states have been directed to make their depots online at the earliest to track the movement of foodgrains. At present, the Centre supplies 5 kg of subsidised foodgrains to each person per month to over 81 crore people via 5,00,000 ration shops in the country, costing the exchequer about `1.4 lakh crore annually.
To reduce nutrition deficiencies among beneficiaries, the state government will also roll out a pilot project in Malkangiri to fortify rice grains with iron, folic acid, Vitamin A and Vitamin B12.
