Pune and Mumbai will be among the first cities in the State to have biometric bar coded ration cards. These laminated cards will be issued soon to every household by the Food and Civil Supplies Department in a bid to ensure transparency and accountability in the public distribution system.

After the Central Government began drives to check hoarding of foodgrains and pilferage last month, the State Government has gone for a tie-up with Spanco Telesystems and Solutions, a Mumbai-based company to overhaul the operation. The company will have a target of issuing 1.8 crore laminated ration cards in the State. Bar code is like a smart card and stores all the information regarding the head of each family and also his/ her thumb impression. The biometrics system is being introduced to act as a check on bogus ration cards that are rampant across the State.

When contacted, State Food and Civil Supplies Minister Sunil Tatkare told The Indian Express that geographical positioning system (GPS) and bar code would be in place initially in Pune and Mumbai.

“We will start the procedure in Pune and Mumbai in six months time. Eventually, it will be replicated in the entire State,” he said. The GPS will also help chart out the route of the civil supplies and the bar code will bring about accountability. “And at the click of the mouse, we’ll be able to access information from all centres,” he said.

The private-public partnership will involve 475 officers of the Food and Civil Supplies Department while more than one lakh ration shops in the State will issue these cards to the citizens.

Spanco vice-president Ravi Bhatnagar, who is waiting for the contract to be signed, said, “We will first proceed with the data collection followed by issuing bar coded ration cards. At the time of issue of the laminated card, citizens need to carry their existing ration card along,” said Bhatnagar.

With some rough data available, the Spanco Telesystems will look at laminating nearly 75,000 ration cards in Pune to start with, followed by more than one lakh in Mumbai. “This is based on initial data and eventually as per the data provided by the civil supplies department, we will the issue the cards,” said Bhatnagar.

He said that the whole effort is to make sure that material reaches the citizens without any pilferage and technology will help in effective monitoring of the movement of goods. MIS reports will be generated and there would be forecasting for various months as an added feature. “The scheme is designed to ensure that the right beneficiary gets the desired amount of foodgrains and other benefits.”

According to Bhatnagar, the system will be implemented across the state in three years. “We are looking at covering approximately 10,6740 fair price shops, 354 supply offices, 33 district supply offices, five regional offices and 44 ration offices in the State,” he said.