Till October 2018, the Public Distribution System (PDS) of wheat through 17,000 ration depots was being done manually requiring the beneficiary to show the ration card. But in October 2017, the electronic point of sale (ePOS) was initiated on a pilot basis in four districts of Punjab — Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Mansa and Mohali — in an effort to bring about automation in the PDS system.
Under ePOS, beneficiaries can get their ration under the PDS just by getting their finger prints matched at the ePOS machines, instead of having to show their ration card.
Eventually, in April 2018, ePOS was rolled out in the entire state. Beneficiaries have also been issued smart ration cards by government. The government has spent Rs 26 crore on the entire automation plan. The results: Punjab has saved a total of Rs 207 crore worth of ration according to Anandita Mitra, Director (Food and Civil Supplies), Punjab.
There are a total of 17,000 depots in Punjab and the department has 1,700 ePOS machines issued in the name of food inspectors.
Read more of this in a report by Raakhi Jagga published in The Indian Express... (Link given below)
