The Maharashtra government has piloted a project for biometric ration cards in Sangli district to stem leakage under the public distribution system (PDS) that is estimated to be as high as ₹3,000 crore.

Wastage reduced

Initial results from this project have resulted in substantial savings of grain given under the PDS, Girish Bapat, Minister, food and civil supplies, told BusinessLine .

“Hardly 6-7 per cent of all holders in this district have applied for biometric and already we are seeing savings of nearly 1,000 tonnes of grain in a one month,” Bapat said. The estimated budget for the PDS system is around ₹12,500 crore per annum, and ₹2,500-3,000 crore was estimated to be the leakage, he added.

Buoyed by the success of the pilot project, the State government plans on extending this to all the districts in Maharashtra. Bapat said each district planning committee has been allocated ₹20-30 lakh and a provision of ₹100 crore has been made for the initiative.

Statistics disparity

Another area the government is closely looking at is the distribution of kerosene under the PDS which is substantially lower for LPG cylinder holders. “There is a difference of 94 lakh units in the statistics provided by LPG distribution companies and the government lists,” he said adding that the duplicate cards ran into lakhs.

Currently, there are around 4.6 crroe ration card holders in the State, including 2.80 crore belonging to the below poverty line category.

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