Bengal to install electronic weighing scales in about 21K ration shops across state

kolkata: The state Food and Supplies department is introducing electronic weighing scales in all 21,000 ration shops across the state.

The process has already started and the department is hopeful of making such machines available at all shops by the end of June.

“Our focus has always been to usher in transparency in the rationing system and to ensure that the beneficiaries are not cheated by any means when it comes to their share of food grains,” an official said.

“The electronic weighing scales will be connected with the e-POS machines and the weight of the stuff during each transaction of food grains distribution will be instantly available with the central server of our department. So every transaction can be monitored by the top brass of the department,” a senior official of the Food and Supplies department said.

The department has recently issued an order for posting staff from its directorate and head office in the city to the district offices for adding teeth to its monitoring mechanism at the ground level.

“Many of our services have gone online in the recent past which has reduced the requirement of manpower in the central office. So, we have decided to deploy more manpower for more effective fieldwork at the district level,” the official added.

The department has completed the process of Aadhaar authentication through retina scanning of the beneficiaries for delivery of food grains in the ration shops across the state.

Retina scanning for Aadhaar authentication is an alternative to the existing system of using a fingerprint for verification.