Meghalaya govt introduces e-bar coded food coupon for BPL families

Shillong, Jan 21 (UNI) The Meghalaya government will soon introduce an electronic bar- coded food coupon system to plug out pilferage of the highly-subsidised rice meant for poor people living under Below Poverty Line (BPL) in the state.

This system will be implemented in the state's West Garo Hills district and later the entire state will adopt it.

''We have completed a trial run in certain areas under Tura urban block and the exercise has been found to be very useful,'' West Garo Hills district Deputy Commissioner P Sampat Kumar told UNI here today.

Mr Kumar said this will be the first Information Communication Technology -enabled intervention in the north-eastern region to stem the rot in Public Distribution System.

The implementation of an electronic bar- coded food coupon system assumed significance in the backdrop of former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A Sangma, unearthing a multi-crore scam.

Last year, Mr Sangma during a surprise visit to FCI's godown at Tura found that the rice worth Rs 6.86 crore was disposed off at the place of lifting and the same never reached the needy.

This system will help to streamline the Public Distribution System and ensure all genuine beneficiaries of the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) scheme receive their shares, ''he said.

Now, the names of beneficiaries of the AAY scheme have been fed into a computerised data log with details of the village, block and location of fair price shops (FPS) and names of dealers, the Deputy Commissioner said.

Thereafter, he said a set of electronic bar-coded food coupons (12 coupons for one year) was issued to the head of each beneficiary household with his/her name printed on each coupon along with the details of FP dealer's name, village, quantity of rice etc.

UNI