Even a small local retailer catering to the needs of a few hundred people has a systematic inventory management and billing protocol to follow. Ration shops deal with tons of goods and people on daily basis, it's the departmental store for people of lower income group. Pulses, cereals, rice, soaps, tea dust, cooking oil, kerosene, maida, flour, and many more essential commodities are distributed to people through this system.
The commotion around the ration shops is a common phenomenon at most places. Nonissuance of goods, lack of communication and timeliness, unclear distribution procedures, mishandling of goods are some of the all time complaints raised by the public on ration shops. To enter details manually for every single card holder and process his bill for each purchase is really a tiresome and cumbersome process. In such a setup, it's impossible to seamlessly handle goods and customers.
So it was about time that the ration system was modernized, at least to some extent. It's a welcome move from the Government of Tamilnadu to install systemised billing machines at ration shops across the district. This move by the government is mainly focussed on stopping illegal practices in the public distribution system and to ensure people are getting benefited from all the schemes announced by the government. The district has around 10,44,500 ration card holders and 1400 ration shops.
The new billing system will be introduced by 2 weeks time throughout the district. The details of every card holder along with their Aadhar card numbers will be enrolled in the machine. When a transaction is done, the machine will demand the mobile number and card holder's name, an instant alert will be sent to the card holder briefing about the details of his purchase. The process will bring transparency at both the ends and will also considerably reduce the work burden of the ration staff.
Krishnagiri and Thiruvallur districts are already using this mechanized billing procedures and have received good accolades from the public. The Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC) will shortly replace ration cards with biometric smart cards.
The commotion around the ration shops is a common phenomenon at most places. Nonissuance of goods, lack of communication and timeliness, unclear distribution procedures, mishandling of goods are some of the all time complaints raised by the public on ration shops. To enter details manually for every single card holder and process his bill for each purchase is really a tiresome and cumbersome process. In such a setup, it's impossible to seamlessly handle goods and customers.
So it was about time that the ration system was modernized, at least to some extent. It's a welcome move from the Government of Tamilnadu to install systemised billing machines at ration shops across the district. This move by the government is mainly focussed on stopping illegal practices in the public distribution system and to ensure people are getting benefited from all the schemes announced by the government. The district has around 10,44,500 ration card holders and 1400 ration shops.
The new billing system will be introduced by 2 weeks time throughout the district. The details of every card holder along with their Aadhar card numbers will be enrolled in the machine. When a transaction is done, the machine will demand the mobile number and card holder's name, an instant alert will be sent to the card holder briefing about the details of his purchase. The process will bring transparency at both the ends and will also considerably reduce the work burden of the ration staff.
Krishnagiri and Thiruvallur districts are already using this mechanized billing procedures and have received good accolades from the public. The Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC) will shortly replace ration cards with biometric smart cards.