PATNA: The
state government
’s plan to provide free foodgrain to 1.75 crore
ration card
holding families for May and June under the PM
Garib Kalyan Yojana
(PMGKY) is set to flounder as the Fair Price Dealers’ Association (FPDA) has expressed their reservation about the use of point of sale (POS) machines attached with biometric device for the identification of ration cardholders.
There are 8.71 crore beneficiaries of the PMGKY in the state. State FPDA president Barun Kumar Singh on Tuesday said if the demands are not met before April 30, its 55,000 members will go on a four-day symbolic strike from May 1 when they would wear black badges and submit point of sale (POS) machines in their block offices.
"If the department remained rigid till May 4, then the FPDA members would go on indefinite stir from May 5," Singh added.
The PDS shop owners\dealers have been demanding from the food and consumer protection department permission to put their thumb impression on papers to certify the release of foodgrain to the ration cardholders to avoid mass contact, amid the deadly surge of the coronavirus pandemic.
Barun added that around 18 fair price dealers have already succumbed to the Covid-19 infection due to mass contact with the ration cardholders. On Tuesday, the FPDA president submitted memoranda, one each in the office of
FCPD minister Leshi Singh
and its secretary at the main state secretariat. Earlier, the same was done on April 18.
The state FCPD minister Leshi Singh told media persons on Monday that the
PDS shop owners
have to use the POS machine fitted with an additional device for biometric identification of the ration cardholders.
"The PDS owners have to just scan the iris of the ration cardholder to complete the identification process, as the POS machine is already linked with the Aadhaar card number of the beneficiary," she added. She further said the system will serve as security from Covid-19 infection, as it prevents mass contact.
“The POS machine, attached with a biometric device, will require training of the personnel deployed. The department has been paying Rs 70 per quintal as margin\commission money to the PDS shop pwners\dealers, but we are demanding Rs 300 per quintal,” Barun said.
“Our margin\commission money related to the coronavirus pandemic last year, at the rate of Rs 70 per quintal, has been pending for six months. Our dues were for eight months from March to November last year. The payment has been made only for two months,” he added.
Start a Conversation
Post comment