CUTTACK: With Cuttack district witnessing a spike in Covid-19 cases, state government’s decision to distribute ration under Public Distribution System (PDS) to beneficiaries using electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) device and conducting biometric scanning has left dealers and beneficiaries in a tizzy.
They fear this will only spread the infection.
In wake of the health pandemic, the state had decided to distribute rice, wheat, and subsidised kerosene oil for April, May, and June through ePoS devices but, without biometric scanning through fingerprint scanner or IRIS scanner attached to the ePoS.
The Department of Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare also announced that it will distribute ration from April 1 to May 15 giving beneficiaries a window of 45 days to collect three months’ ration and kerosene oil in a staggered manner, to avoid rush at the fair price shops.
Despite having a window period of 45 days and suspension of biometric authentication, the beneficiaries were seen rushing to dealers’ points and crowding the PDS retail shops to collect subsidised food grains in gross violation of the social distancing norm.
The state government has now issued a notice on distribution of PDS commodities for July and August with biometric scanning authentication of the beneficiaries through fingerprint scanner attached to the e-PoS.
However, PDS dealers and beneficiaries alleged that biometric authentication can lead to spread of the infection if it is not managed properly.
Opposing the decision, representatives of Cuttack city PDS Dealers Association have urged the administration to suspend biometric authentication.
Civil Supply Officer Amar Mohapatra, however, said biometric authentication cannot be suspended as it is a Government decision to bring transparency in the PDS system.
“We have instructed dealers to sanitise the machine after every use to prevent infection,” Mohapatra added.
While over 17 lakh people of 4,72,000 poor families have been availing the benefit of subsidised food grains under National Food Security Act(NFSA) and State Food Security Scheme (SFSS), the Cuttack administration has engaged 1008 PDS dealers for distribution of ration across the district.