Jharkhand minister favours technology to check PDS corruption

Jharkhand Public Distribution and Consumer Affair Minister Saryu Roy today strongly favoured introduction of technology to check corruption in Public Distribution System in the state and fix accountability of officials.
"Corruption have been prevailing in the system and the government has taken initiative to fix accountability to the officials of his department," Roy told reporters here.
He said biometric system was being introduced in the PDS shop to check irregularities in distribution of foodgrains.
The minister said the nexus between marketing officer and PDS dealers was the root cause of the problem which could come to an end with the installation of biometric system.

Referring to the implementation of the Food Security Act, Roy said 51 lakh fresh entry for distribution of ration cards had been made, but his department had received several irregularities in the entry, which the department was in the process of rectifying it.
The state already had 35 lakh ration card holders while the possibility of 30 lakh additional entry was there, he said.
Of the 51 lakh fresh entry, he said the department had detected duplication or enlisting of affluent persons in the list in course of scrutiny and assured to rectify the problem by January 31.
Advocating a minimum qualification for PDS dealers, Roy, who has met his Telegana counterpart during his visit to the state and discuss about the PDS system there, said an applicant was eligible for PDS license if he was Xth pass in Telegana.