Government has decided to issue 'smart cards' to dealers to check benamis
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Hyderabad: The Telangana government is all set to crack down on ‘benami ration dealers running fair price shops. A probe by the civil supplies department found that a large number of ration shops in Telangana are being operated by benami dealers.
The original dealers handed over the shops to benamis and are collecting commissions from them. The benamis are diverting commodities meant for the poor to the black market and making huge profits.
In GHMC limits alone, nearly 40 shops out of 90 were found to be run by 'benamis'. There are nine circles for civil supplies department in the city and each circle has nearly nine shops.
The government has decided to issue 'smart cards' to dealers to check benamis. The biometrics of the original dealers would be taken and essential commodities will be delivered only on submission of the smart cards at PDS godowns.
The project was implemented on a pilot basis in Nalgonda in 2013 by the government of undivided AP and this helped to weed out benami dealers. The TS government now wants to extend the facility to all districts soon.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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