PDS portability lets card holders avail rations from any outlet

Coupons can be obtained at 54 BangaloreOne centres

 The Food and Civil Supplies department has introduced a ‘PDS shop portability’ initiative for the convenience of the beneficiaries.

Under the initiative, the ration card holders, who were earlier restricted to only one public distribution system (PDS) outlet, can now get rations from any PDS outlet in their taluk.

The department has already introduced the coupon system for obtaining kerosene and food grains in around 1,500 PDS outlets in Bengaluru, and in 10 outlets in each district headquarters.

Beneficiaries can furnish these coupons at the outlets and obtain the entitled quantity of rations.

Special centres

The department has made arrangements for issue of coupons in 54 BangaloreOne and 153 special centres in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) limits.

Speaking about the initiative, Commissioner of Food and Civil Supplies, Harsha Gupta, said that the system would plug the leakage of grains and other
essential items at the PDS outlets.

First in the country

He said the initiative was the first of its kind in the country, and a report regarding it was being sent to the Centre.

He said apart from Bengaluru, coupons were yet to be made compulsory in other districts.

However, beneficiaries could opt for the facility in their respective districts.
He also said that seeding Aadhaar numbers with ration cards had helped in weeding out seven lakh bogus ration cards.

As a result, 15 lakh metric tonne of food grains was being saved every month, he added.