Centre working on portability of PDS entitlements: Food minister Ram Vilas Paswan

The centre is working on the portability of Public Distribution System (PDS) entitlements and this will be progressively extended, said Food and Consumer Affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

He said that once portability of PDS is implemented , the beneficiaries will be free to receive their entitlements from any fair price shops without being bound to a particular shop. This mechanism is already underway in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Gujarat and Delhi, he said , while addressing the first meeting of Food commission chairmen from states and union territories in New Delhi on wednesday.

Paswan said that across the country 82 per cent ration cards have been linked to Aadhar and 2.95 lakh Point of Sale (PoS) machines have been installed at ration shops to streamline the rationing process and stop pilferages. “About 2.75 crore fake, duplicate and illegal ration cards have been deleted which has resulted in annualised better targeting of food subsidy amounting to Rs 17,500 crores per year,” he said.


The minister said that these funds will be utilized for the benefit of providing subsidies to new people.

Further he said that he will write letters to the chief ministers of states and UTs where the state food commission has not been formed or partially formed. He informed that so far the commission has been set up in 20 states and UTs.