Delhi Cabinet Approves Proposal for Home Delivery of Ration
The Delhi Cabinet in its meeting, chaired by the chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, on Tuesday approved the proposal for home delivery / doorstep delivery of ration under Targeted Public Distribution System (PDS) to all ration beneficiaries.
According to Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Cabinet approved the Department of Food, Supply and Consumer Affairs proposal for providing doorstep delivery of wheat/Atta, rice, and sugar for eligible beneficiaries under National Food Security Act 2013.
The Cabinet decision will now be sent to the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi Anil Baijal for his approval. AAP claims that the project for doorstep delivery of foodgrains is aimed at reforming the Targeted PDS in public interest.
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Kejriwal government says it is committed to ensuring that eligible beneficiaries receive their due ration in a transparent manner with maximum ease.
According to AAP, Aadhaar-based identification of ration holders was one such reform, which has faced teething problems resulting in ration beneficiaries facing unforeseen trouble. Given this experience, doorstep delivery of ration is aimed at removing the problems faced by ration beneficiaries, AAP said.
The AAP government also had announced its plans to make all ration shops online. The government claimed it has installed e-POS (point of sale) machines at 2,254 ration shops. These machines will help monitor sales at these shops online.
Currently, the new system is being used on a trial basis. The government said it will be fully implemented in all the Delhi ration shops from February 2018 when consumers will be able to buy the food items from any store.
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The attention of the Cabinet was also drawn to the extant laws / rules and guidelines issued by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs Government of India, asking state governments to ensure home delivery of ration to the beneficiaries experiencing difficulty in getting their entitled quantum of subsidised foodgrain due to old age, physical disability, etc.
AAP says the service provider for home delivery of ration will be selected in a transparent manner through open bidding.
The proposal is aimed at providing a higher level of transparency in delivery through builtin online monitoring system which will weed out corruption and diversion of food grains. The AAP government believes that it will save time and resources of ration beneficiaries of Delhi.
Photo courtesy: AAP
