Ration card portability introduced in Tripura

AGARTALA: The Tripura government on Wednesday introduced portability in drawing ration by beneficiaries from December.

Under the public distribution system (PDS) portability scheme, beneficiaries can draw their PDS items from any ration shop across the country with their ration card and Aadhar number.

Officials here said the initiative was undertaken to protect consumers' rights through digitalization of the rationing system.

"After the BJP-IPFT government was formed, emphasis was on ensuring transparency in PDS. Accordingly, rationing system was digitalized so that only genuine consumers can avail the benefits. In the process, more than 66,000 ration cards were found fake and subsequently cancelled," a senior official said.

The government has also stressed on maintaining adequate stock of food items and ensuring timely supply to ration shops. Besides rice, wheat and kerosene oil, the Tripura government is also supplying sugar, masoor dal and tea in PDS. The state also plans to supply mustard oil at an affordable cost in the final stage, the official added.

According to the current system, ration beneficiaries are required to visit their particular fair price shops with ration cards and Aadhar numbers to draw commodities of requirement. But according to the system of portability, any beneficiary can draw their required items from any ration shop with their ration card and Aadhar number.

In the event of any difficulty in drawing ration, the consumers can contact the concerned SDM or food inspector and file a complaint. The government has also activated toll free numbers (1967 or 1800-345-3665) to file complaints.

Following constant persuasions, FCI has agreed to procure 5,000 metric tonnes of paddy from the farmers of Tripura which will be milled here and distributed among the people of the state through PDS.

The Tripura government had earlier procured paddy on two occasions. The state has been procuring rice amounting to about 2,500 metric tonnes annually from other states.

"Rice is the main food grain of Tripura. However, the rice in PDS shops is coming from other states because previous governments took no action. After our government came to power, we found that rice production is gradually going down because the entire market, including ration shops, are getting rice from outside," food and civil supply minister Manoj Kanti Deb said.

Deb, however, mentioned that people of Tripura prefer to consume local varieties of rice. "Since there is no support from the government, farmers have lost interest in growing paddy and consumers have become habituated with other varieties of rice. As a result, the agrarian economy of the state has also taken a hit," Deb added.