Chandigarh, November 17: The Punjab Cabinet, headed by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, on Friday approved replacement of the blue cards under the Atta Dal scheme with new smart cards, while giving the go-ahead to engaging three Government of India PSUs for the computerization of the state’s Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS).
The Cabinet decided on these measures to ensure that the benefits of its PDS system and the Attal-Dal schemes reach the right beneficiaries in a smooth manner.
The Cabinet decided to engage Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Broadcasting Engineering Consultants Indian Ltd. (BECIL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) for implementing the work of computerization of TPDS in the state after successful pilot project following a proper price discovery mechanism.
Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s office said that Government of India made the benefits available under the TPDS a legal right by implementing the National Food Security Act-2013. The New Atta Dal scheme being run by the State government was brought under the ambit of the above Act. As per the orders of the State government, the New Atta Dal Scheme has been renamed as Smart Ration Card Scheme.
The state government procures the Wheat needed for the above scheme under the De-Centralized Procurement (DCP) scheme and the same is stored at 269 dedicated DCP godowns and is distributed through 16738 Fair Price Shops (FPS) under its bi-annual distribution model with the approval of Government of India to the beneficiaries in 30 kg sealed bags at the rate of Rs.2 per kg twice a year. The priority household category beneficiaries get 5 kg wheat per month whereas the Anna Antodaya Yojna category families get 35 kg wheat per month. The state government distributes 8.70 lac MT wheat annually.
To ensure transparency and efficiency in the distribution of foodgrains under the NFSA, the Government of India has directed to implement End to End Computerization of TPDS, automation of FPS and Supply Chain Management as per the directions of Supreme Court of India.
The details of the beneficiaries and other keynotes of the Supply Chain have been digitized and all the Ration Cards have been seeded with Aadhaar Numbers which have also been validated. The details of the same are available on the transparency portal http://foodsuppb.nic.in of the Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Punjab.
