HYDERABAD: More than 1 lakh family units have been struck off from the list of Public Distribution System beneficiaries over the last few months. Chief Rationing Officer for Hyderabad, Bharathi Hollikeri, on Tuesday said, “The removal of redundant, bogus, ineligible units and also those who had multiple cards, a sum of ` 1.5 crore is being saved. The Hyderabad office has achieved a highest Aadhaar seeding of 99.68 per cent,’’ she said.
Stating that the department has devised a no-tolerance stance towards pilferage of essential commodities at multiple levels, she said a total of 168 dealers at Fair Price Shops (FPS) were identified as benami. There are a total of 859 FPS in the jurisdiction of Hyderabad CRO which includes nine circles of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. Further, she stated that criminal cases have been registered against 16 FPS and that a mechanism to ensure FPS are open everyday between 8 a.m.- 12 p.m. and 4 p.m.- 8 p.m. is put in place. “Since January, 86 FPS, 28 traders and two rice mills have been booked and ` 4.02 cr worth commodities have been seized,” she said.
To plug the gap in transport of essential commodities, she said, “We are going to use GPS vehicle tracking devices to stop any diversion of commodities or kerosene at Stage 1 and 2 levels,” she said. “To avoid further pilferage an EPOS machine will be used, it requires the finger print of beneficiary as well as the dealer to generate a bill of commodities availed. It identifies the beneficiary based on Aadhaar seeding and issue commodities allotted by the dynamic key register generated every month,” she added.