Soon, automated messages about availability of grains

Nashik: The district supply office (DSO) has decided follow a system of sending out automated messages to beneficiaries to keep then informed about the availability of food grains at fair price shops (FPS).
There are 38 lakh beneficiaries in Nashik district under Food Security Act. for whom food grains are supplied through FPS under the Public Distribution System (PDS)."We have decided to ensure that even the last person in the distribution system, for whom the food grains are lifted knows when the food grains will be available in the shops," Sarita Narke, district supply officer, said.
The system installed currently intimates 20 people – sarpanch, police patil, circle officers etc – of the concerned FPS shop for which the stock has been lifted by the respective shop keeper. But some shopkeepers pick up their quota at random times of the month as a result of which the beneficiaries have no idea when the stock arrives.
"We have to keep on visiting the FPS over and over again because of the uncertainty. We have to walk at least two km to get to the shop and it is upsetting to return empty handed," Lata Mehde, resident of Surgana said. The administration is gearing up to compile data of every beneficiary – the phone number, and feed the same to the system by linking it to the ration card – which further is linked to a particular FPS in a particular village.
"Not everybody may have the mobile phone, but we hope by word of mouth the message will spread across the village that the food grains have been picked up by shopkeeper and that means the next day they can fetch it," Narke said.
Nashik district has 2,513 fair price shops and 38.03 lakh beneficiaries. The figures are dynamic since the ration cards are deleted, issued on daily basis.