SRI. T S Randhawa IAS GJ:1979 Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor to the Department of Food and Public Distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs & Food and Public Distribution visited Rayagada district on 24.02.12, as a part of his visit to the districts of South Odisha. After discussion with the Collector and other officials of the civil supplies department and the officials of FCI, he saw the much appreciated Biometric based Targeted Public Distribution project ( BTPDS) in the Rayagada district. He was particularly happy about the fast working of the smart cars operated Point of sale ( PoS) device. He remarked that the system is much better than what is being run in places like Chandigarh and Haryana.
Collector Rayagada explained him about the need to have two different Biometric based systems of Public distribution, I.e the smart card based for Urban areas and the bar coded cards and coupons, for practical reasons such as connectivity and availability of electricity. However the system of bar coded coupons and cards is also a very workable one and has gone a long way in ensuring food security to the needy and checking pilferage of essential commodities.
