PDS on Smart Card in Chhattisgarh

     Raipur, April 04, 2011: Chhattisgarh Government has drafted an ambitious plan to bring in remarkable change in the pattern of distribution of PDS through fair price shops.

     The Government plans to give smart card to all the 1.5 lakh ration card holders living below poverty line (BPL) in the Raipur city for drawl of ration materials, officials said here today.

     Under the Smart Card provision, any registered BPL of the Raipur city can draw ration materials from any point of sale or fair price shop out of the 174 ration shops located in the capital city and through networking that data would be made available on line, they said.

     Currently each card holder is attached to a particular PDS shop in the city and once the Smart Card is in operation the PDS can be drawn from any of the point of sale by the beneficiaries, the officials said.

     The Government hoped that the new system would bring in more transparency in the PDS system and easy to monitor.

     Depending on the success of the Smart Card, that would be subsequently extended to through out the state, the officials said.