Crackdown on ration shops for diverting stock

NEW DELHI: Delhi government has launched a crackdown on ration shops siphoning off supplies meant for registered consumers under the public distribution system. In a first, action is being taken on "SMS alerts" from consumers who failed to get their ration quota.

Over 15,000 SMS alerts were received by the department of food and civil supplies in February and their verification revealed that about 7,000 were genuine. Notices were issued to ration shops and in 80 cases the department imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000.

In Delhi, over 17 lakh households, making up over 60 lakh individuals, are covered by the PDS system which entitles them to subsidized monthly ration. The consumer-based SMS alert system has been functional since February and is one of the many measures undertaken by the department to root out corruption and end the possibilities of black marketing.

Earlier, the department sent SMS alerts to consumers informing them that their quota of ration had reached the ration shop. But from February the government started the system of SMS reverts asking consumers to give feedback by messaging "No" in case they didn't get their ration supply.

Consumer data of SMS reverts for March is also under scrutiny and the department will follow up on the complaints with notices and penalty against violators.

In a bid to streamline the system further, a plan is afoot to get around 2,400 fair price shops to gradually shift to transactions based on an online system linked to the department. The project has been functional in pilot mode in some shops.

Under this system, fair price shops would be required to install a point of sale device and every transaction will be recorded and automatically updated to the food supplies portal. Any gaps will be visible to officials monitoring these shops and immediate action will be undertaken wherever irregularities are noticed.