Kolkata: The Food and Supplies Department has introduced a new facility in the ‘Khadya Sathi Amar Ration’ mobile application to enable inspections of distributor godowns through the app, on the lines of inspections conducted at fair price shops (FPS).
The department has recently developed an App-based system to allow inspection reports to be submitted directly from inspection sites using smartphones, with the objective of making the process more efficient and user-friendly. “The department has been consistently striving to strengthen the monitoring mechanism of the Public Distribution System, and several guidelines have been issued from time to time to standardise inspection procedures. Field officials have been conducting FPS inspections and submitting reports through the department’s web portal. The new app-based facility will further strengthen the monitoring mechanism,” a Food and Supplies Department official said.
Recently, the department issued directions for conducting special or verifying inspections to ensure uniform and comprehensive coverage of all distributors associated with the PDS and to verify the quality of regular inspections carried out by officers.
District Rationing Officers (DROs), Joint Directors of Rationing (JDRs) and District Controllers of Food and Supplies (DCFSs) have been instructed to constitute special inspection teams comprising two to three inspectorate staff, headed by the Sub-Divisional Controllers or Rationing Officers (ROs) of the same jurisdiction, to conduct such inspections.
These special inspections will be conducted in addition to regular inspections to ensure effective, accountable and transparent functioning of the public distribution system, including supply chain management and storage practices.
The department has noted that the frequency of regular inspections has not been satisfactory over the past few months. It has further directed that all special inspections must be surprise checks, with at least two inspections to be conducted every month by separate special teams.