By the end of March 2018, all the Public Distribution System (PDS) shops in the district will be digitised and would be soon converted into Citizen Service Centre (CSC). They would be provided with bio-metric and Point of Sale (POS) system to distribute ration.
Speaking after distributing laptops and printers to the PDS shop owners, at his office, here, Deputy Commissioner D Randeep said, "The district has 1,031 fair price shops and out of this, 917 shops have been installed with bio-metric and POS system. The remaining 114 shops will get these facilities before the end of March."
Senior Deputy Director for Food and Civil Supplies Ka Rameshwarappa said, "All PDS shops will be converted into CSC, where the public can avail benefits under 346 government and semi-government schemes."
Pact with CSC
He said that the government has entered into an agreement with Citizen Services Centres (CSC), a project under the Digital India Programme, for the purpose. "The government pays a commission of Rs 70 per quintal of grains distributed through the fair price shops and an additional Rs 17 is given if the PDS shop owners invest on computers, internet, and other facilities. In case the shop owners are not in a position to meet the expenses, the CSC e-Governance Service India Limited will provide the required facilities. Then, the incentive of Rs 17 will be given to CSC. The CSC authorities will maintain the system for a period of three years," Rameshwarappa informed.
Laptops, printers were distributed to the five Public Distribution Supply shop owners, on the occasion.