NEWDELHI: Somewhere in a dusty government cabinet, Justice D P Wadhwa's report on public distribution system (PDS) reform is gathering dust. It notes that the "central vigilance committee has found the Government of Delhi has not set up any system for monitoring the working of fair price shops through the network of the National Informatics Centre or otherwise." The Wadhwa Committee was constituted as a result of a writ petition filed by social activists in 2001. The panel's report was released in March last year.
Among other recommendations of the Wadhwa Committee are:
Go Hitech: The committee recommended electronic weighing scales connected to computers to be placed in central and state government warehouses, enabling immediate data upload about quantity of grain loaded in trucks and eliminating pilferage. GPS should be installed in trucks. Before commodities are loaded, each bag would need a barcode sticker that has the fair price shop number, loading date, type of commodity and a unique four digit number for the consignment. The automated system would indicate the exact number bags sent from Food Corporation of India to the shop, which can later be confirmed online. Barcoded food coupons, biometric cards with details like denomination, price, serial number, name and number of ration shop, will be scanned before foodgrain is handed over. The personal details of all ration card holders would be stored electronically in all ration shops. A fingerprint scanner will identify the card owner, and a computer will calculate how much grain he is eligible for.
Helpline: A toll free 24/7 national consumer helpline with an inhouse call centre should be set up. All conversations to the helpline to be recorded. All grievances to be forwarded to section incharge for solutions. Public meetings must be organised by food and supply officers twice a month on first and third Saturdays every month, between 25 pm.
Transparency: A system of public audit must be started, under which any ration card holder can, for a fee, get copies of documents at the ration shop. Each shop must display at a prominent place, the list of Antodaya beneficiaries, entitlement of essential commodities, scale of issue, retail issue prices, timings of opening and closing of fair price shops, stock of essential commodities received during the month, the opening and closing stock of essential commodities and the authority of redressal of grievances, lodging complaints with respect to quality and quantity of essential commodities under PDS and the weekly off day. The fair price shop owner has to maintain records of ration card holders, stock register and issue of sale register, copies of which have to be furnished to the Nagar Palika, vigilance committee or any other body authorised by the state government. Samples of foodgrains being sold have to be displayed at the shop. All food supply officers should direct fair price shop owners under their jurisdiction, to put their authenticated signatures on the receipt, as acknowledgement of receiving supplies, along with the weight challan memo showing name, licence number and shop address.
The report says Clause 8 of the PDS Control Order, 2001, makes it mandatory for the state government to monitor the functioning of the ration shop through a computer network installed in the district national information centres. The central vigilance committee has discovered that the Government of Delhi has not set up any system, it says.