Dealers misuse PDS rules, grab ration of 86 Barmer families

BARMER: Taking advantage of the relaxation in rules for the public distribution system during the lockdown imposed to fight coronavirus, some fair price shop owners have appropriated ration material meant for 86 families of Barmer district, food and civil supplies department officials said.

A ration dealer handling a shop in Jaisalmer district has lifted 12 quintal of wheat that was to be given to 60 families in Barmer. Another dealer in Sawai Madhopur has grabbed 700 kg wheat meant for 26 families in Barmer, officials said.

Barmer district supply officer Ashwani Gurjar said the fair price shopkeepers in Jaisalmer and Sawai Madhopur have illegally lifted the wheat meant for the families of Barmer district. “Similar cases have also been reported from Udaipur and Dungarpur districts.”

Gur j a r s a i d they have informed the department’s higher officers and written to the district collectors to take action against the dealers.

The Barmer district administration has informed the authorities in Jaisalmer and Sawai Madhopur to take action against guilty dealers. Jaisalmer district administration has lodged an FIR against the dealer and cancelled his licence, officials said.

Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Rajasthan government issued directions to ration dealers to avoid us i ng Poi nt o f Sal e ( POS) machines and distribute ration material after ensuring the authenticity of the user through an OTP (Onetime password). At some places where dealers are facing technical hurdle or network issues, the government has allowed them to distribute ration material by making an entry in the register.

Earlier, the civil supplies department launched a facility, called inter-district portability, that enables residents of Rajasthan to avail of their ration share from dealers even when they are away from their home district. This facility is availed of through bio-metric identification.

But in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the state government issued an advisory stating that there is no need to give finger impressions on POS machines at PDS shops.

The ration card number of the beneficiary will be entered by the fair price shopkeeper on the POS machine, followed by his/her mobile number available in the Bhamashah, Jan Aadhaar and Aadhaar database. An OTP will be sent through SMS. The beneficiary will make the OTP available to the ration dealer. After the OTP is verified in the POS machine, ration will be issued to the beneficiary, an official said.

He said that if a beneficiary does not get to know the OTP within the stipulated time, then ration will be distributed on the basis of one of the reasons given by the dealer on the POS machine.

“Some ration dealers have misused the relaxation. The dealers have access to the beneficiaries’ list posted in the department’s portal. By making entries in ration cards, the dealers grabbed the wheat meant for families in Barmer,” the official said.