Jamshedpur Dealers’ Association delegation meets Health Minister Banna, complains of new version 5.3 in e-posh machine

Mail News Service

Jamshedpur, May 23: Ration dealers and beneficiaries were facing tough times in delivery of ration goods since the introduction of the new version 5.3 e-posh machines instituted by the Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of Jharkhand. The Department has also directed PDS dealers to apply different fingerprints of beneficiaries for each rationed commodity that has been instrumental in bringing the ration distribution system to a halt in the entire Jharkhand PDS outlets.

Members of the PDS Dealers’ Association stated that ration distribution to beneficiaries for the month of April had not been completed and neither had the supply of rationed commodities for the month of May been sent to the PDS outlets thus far. The state government department had been only directing the shopkeepers to extend delivery time on a regular basis that had been leading to angry exchanges between PDS dealers and beneficiaries.

A delegation of District Dealers’ Association met Jharkhand’s Health and Disaster Management Minister Banna Gupta and apprised him of the mounting problems due to the introduction of the 5.3 system in e-posh machines. The Association handed a letter of complaint mentioning the mounting problems with the introduction of the new 5.3 system for e-posh machines. The delegation was headed by East Singhbhum District PDS Shop Dealers’ Association President Mohan Saw Paras and District General Secretary Pramod Gupta.

 The letter of demand handed to the Jharkhand Minister by the Association urged that the new version 5.3 programmed in the e-posh machines be relaxed for some time so that rationed commodities could be delivered to beneficiaries on time smoothly as during earlier times. Office bearers of the Dealers Association said that due to implementation of the new standard, dealers and beneficiaries were facing problems with the situation more than occasionally fanning anger and heated arguments between the PDS dealers and beneficiaries.

The delegation of the Association that handed the memorandum to Minister Banna Gupta also mentioned in the note that the 2G network was unable to cope with the current 5.3 system causing wrong messages to being sent to beneficiaries on the one hand while on the other the district administration and the State Government Department were pressurizing the PDS outlet operators thereby adding to the burden caused by the introduction of the 5.3 system of ration delivery. The delegation pointed out in the memorandum that each beneficiary was taking anything between 20 and 25 minutes for taking delivery of the rationed commodities. The delegation attributed the delay to the norm of using separate fingerprints for separate commodities. Moreover, the delegation mentioned in the complaint note that the 2G network was not compatible with the new system and connectivity was erratic causing hapless beneficiaries to wait for long hours and sometimes days. The PDS Dealers’ Association that met Jharkhand’s Health and Disaster Management Minister included Kailash Agarwal and Rajkumar Thakur among others.