Fair price shops to have iris recognition

The struggle of the elderly for getting ration due fingerprinting issues at fair price shops will end soon as the Civil Supplies Department plans to introduce iris detection as another method of identification, making the process of acquiring ration smooth.

According to reports, statewide there are 17,200 ration shops, all of whom will get this mode of detection facility step by step. All fair price shops will be equipped with the scanning equipment in three phases. The first phase starts from August 15 onwards and would be implemented in the four districts, Peddapalli, Mancherial, Sircilla and Yadadri. The second phase starts from September 1st and will be implemented in the districts of Siddipet, Jagtial and Mahabubnagar. Finally the third phase would start from October first week in Telangana.

Commissioner for Civil Supplies, Mr Akun Sabharwal, held a review meeting with Civil Supplies officials of Peddapalli and Mancherial on Monday. He visited fair price shops in the district and inspected ration commodity distribution. On his visit to ration shops, the Commissioner noticed fingerprint recognition issues. Some of the beneficiaries also complained to him about it.

Speaking to this newspaper, Mr Akun Sabharwal said “Basically to ensure that we have an alternate biometric recognition mechanism, we are bringing in iris recognition mechanism. A lot of women complained about fingerprints not being recognised. So to avoid all these problems of authorisation, we are planning to implement this.”

Mr Douglas Merandez, a senior citizen of AS Rao Nagar and ration card holder, said “Often people at the ration shops face fingerprinting troubles, sometimes they get confused and punch with the other hand. At other times due to technical issues, we are unable to do fingerprinting. It is better to have an alternate detection mechanism.”

According to reports, statewide there are 17,200 ration shops, all of whom will get this mode of detection facility step by step.