TIRUPPUR: In a bizarre move, the district Cooperative Department has imposed penalties on salesmen in PDS shops in Tiruppur district for negligent handling that caused damage to Point of Sale (PoS) devices. Sources said the department has levied a total fine of Rs 31.86 lakh on 167 salesmen. The fine amount ranges between Rs 5,000 and Rs 42,000 per machine depending on nature of the damage. The shocked workers have refused to pay.
According to official records accessed by TNIE, the Tiruppur District Cooperative Department found 167 PoS machines faulty during an inspection last month. While some POS machines were found completely broken, many were found with motherboard and electrical damage. The total value of damage was estimated as Rs 31.86 lakh and 167 salesmen were ordered to pay the penalty.
The Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Department completed the first phase of end-to-end computerisation of the PDS across the state in 2015 and the process became operational the following year. Between 2016 and 2020, a total of 4,700 PoS machines were found to have been damaged by employees. The total pending damage charges across Tamil Nadu amount to Rs 8 crore. However, due to various reasons, the collection of damage charges has been delayed.
Recently, the PoS machine administrator company demanded that the government pay the pending amount along with interest. Subsequently, the government directed the cooperative department to collect fine.
A senior official from the food department said, “According to the contract norms, employees who damage the machines are liable to bear the repair charges. However, a section of the employees’ association mistook this amount as maintenance charge. The employees have provided written confirmation that they are responsible for the damage, and penalties are to be collected only from them.”
Speaking to TNIE, Ramesh (name changed) a salesman in Tiruppur said, “PoS machines were distributed in June 2016 to be used with the smart cards given to PDS card holders. Initially, it had 2G SIM cards and machines, it took time to read the PDS cards. Later, they repaired and serviced the PoS Machines, which was good.
For the past several years, whenever we faced problems, they took the machines for repair/servicing. Last week, the cooperative department ordered salesmen to pay for repaired machines, this was shocking. When machines offered by the government get damaged, which is mostly due to wear and tear, how can we pay for it? If a computer used by a government official gets repaired, will he be fined for it? We suspect the machines were originally faulty and couldn’t be repaired any further. In order to divert the issue, they are charging a fine.”
An official from Tiruppur District Cooperative Department said, “There is no politics in the issue. These weren’t faulty when they were procured in 2016 and many were procured in 2019 and 2020. Some of the salesmen didn’t safeguard the machines properly. Since all the salesmen in Tiruppur district refused to pay fine, we have informed our superiors in Chennai about it.”
(With inputs from Chennai)
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