Kottayam: The Kerala government has decided to integrate the electronic Point of Sale (e-PoS) devices used in ration shops with electronic weighing balances. For the ₹33.50 crore project, an amount of ₹10 crore has been allocated for the current financial year.

According to the Rationing Vigilance officials, even if biometric authentication is used, it is still possible to manipulate the weighing. To prevent this, e-PoS devices will be connected to e-balances either through wires or via Bluetooth.

A call centre will be established in every taluk for five years to address shop-level issues in real time.

Once this arrangement under the Food Security Act is implemented, only the weight-verified quantity of essential goods distributed in ration shops will be billed. The aim is to ensure that beneficiaries receive their entitled share accurately. However, it is yet to be clarified whether this facility can be utilised to check the weight of items being brought to shops from Supplyco. 

There are around 15,000 ration shops in the state. Food items are transported from the FCI (Food Corporation of India) godown in 200 sacks. To adjust sack weights, excess grains are often transferred into other bags. And traders complain that once the load reaches the Food Security godown and is further transported to ration shops, weight loss due to spillage and other factors often occur, but is never compensated for.

All Kerala Retail Ration Dealers Association state vice president Johnson Vilavinal stated that traders were not consulted in the planning of this new system. He also noted that no other states have implemented such a project so far.