Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jan 25:

Vehicles used by level-II contractors for delivering food materials under Public Distribution System (PDS) from depots to retailer points will be fitted with Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking devices to track their movements and prevent pilferage.

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“Vehicles used by level-II contractors for transporting food materials from depots to retailer points will be fitted with GPS tracking devices so that we will be able to track them and they are not able to flee with the materials,” informed Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra, Principal Secretary Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare department briefing reporters after a review meeting of the department here at the state secretariat today.

Moreover, Point of Sale (POS) machines will be installed in all PDS counters across the state by the end of June.

“All outlets in headquarter blocks will have POS machines by March end and in whole of the state by the end of June as per earlier decided programme,” said Mohapatra.

Commenting on the status of paddy procurement in the state the Principal Secretary said: “We have already paid farmers Rs2600 crore through online. We expect to procure 40 lakh tonne paddy in the Kharif season and around 21 lakh tonnes have been already procured. About 50 percent paddy has been procured.”

“This year we have introduced a new modality, a miller who delivers us with more rice will be entitled to get more paddy as per his/her milling capacity. From that point of view rice delivery which was 12 percent last year, it has almost doubled to 25 percent this year. This is a good achievement. We have decided to see to it that there is zero default in 2016-17 procurement year and no miller manages to flee with paddy or rice,” informed Mohapatra briefing on the new modality adopted by the department to ensure zero default by the millers.