Thiruvananthapuram: Ration shops of nine districts where ePOS machine deployment is complete would have to wait until April 20 before their entire quota of the month arrived. All the ration shops in the districts other than Wayanad, Kasargod, Pathanamthitta and Thiruvananthapuram have an ePOS machine installed. But the supply got delayed after a civil supplies department directive earlier this month to clear the remaining stocks entirely and get the fingerprint of cardholders on the ePOS.
Though a subsequent order for distribution came on Tuesday, it would take at least 15 days for the whole stock to arrive at the outlets with the inadequate employees at the wholesale depots, according to All India Ration Dealers Association general secretary Babychan Mukkadan.
"Though there were more than one in each taluk, with the implementation of the Food Security Act, it was restricted to one wholesale depot," he told DC. At least 100 sacks of ration articles are distributed to each shop every month. As there's an average of ten employees with a wholesale dealer, only five loads are being transported from the depot each day.
"The shops can start distribution after the whole stock arrives because there are chances for disputes if some get the articles and others are denied," he said. Of 14419 ration shops in the state, ePOS machines have been installed in 12021. The installation in the remaining 2,346 shops in five districts will begin in May.
