The Food and Civil Supplies department is set to expedite its modernisation drive of the public distribution system by bringing more supply offices under the e-office system.
As many as 101 district and taluk supply offices in the State will come under the ambit of the automation system on the occasion of the World Consumer Rights Day on March 15. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate a slew of such reforms as part of the State-wide celebrations.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Food and Civil Supplies Minister G.R. Anil said the department has made steady progress in extending the e-office system across the State. It had initiated such efforts in January 2019 when the Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Commissionerate, and Pathanamthitta and Kozhikode district supply offices logged into the application maintained by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). The system has enhanced transparency, accountability and data security in file processing and movement, he said.
The department will also embark on a GPS vehicle tracking and fleet management system to prevent pilferage of essential commodities during transportation from godowns and mills to ration outlets. Each vehicle will be equipped with tracking devices to monitor their movements in a centralised manner.
In a bid to address complaints regarding inspections in ration outlets, the government will also introduce a FPS (fair price shop) mobile application to ensure transparency in stock taking and prevent errors while recording the findings.
Mr. Anil said the facility will also enable officials to keep track of attempts to hoard and black market essential commodities.
As part of the Consumer Rights Day observance, the Legal Metrology Department will launch two drives – Operation Jagratha and Operation Kshamatha to prevent malpractices at shops and petrol pumps respectively.
Officials will inspect 50,000 shops as part of the Operation Jagratha to ascertain whether bills were provided for each sale and rates were displayed. The weighing instruments will also be inspected to ensure accuracy. A thousand petrol pumps will be inspected as part of Operation Kshamatha, the Minister said.
