BHUBANESWAR: The State Government on Monday told the Assembly that private storage agent system would be abolished from April 1. The decision was taken as per the recommendation of the Justice Wadhwa Committee on public distribution system (PDS), Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Niranjan Pujari said in his reply to the demand discussion of his department. The Minister said the Government had initiated computerisation of the targeted public distribution system (TDPS) to make the delivery system more transparent. The issue of computerised ration card is taken up on a pilot basis in Sonepur and Balangir districts. The BPL beneficiaries are now being selected from the national population register (NPR) based on the 2011 census. Since BPL survey has started in some districts, fake and ghost BPL cards will be eliminated. Several measures have been taken to clean up the system and it will be ensured that the real beneficiaries get their ration in time without any pilferage. After decentralisation of paddy procurement, the Minister said farmers are getting minimum support price (MSP). The State agencies, engaged in the paddy procurement, have done an excellent job. While other states are incurring huge losses in paddy procurement, the State- appointed agencies are earning good profit. Alleging that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) is not cooperating with the State in paddy procurement, the Minister made a strong plea to the Central agency to incentivise the State Government agencies doing the job of FCI. The demand of grants for the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare and the Transport departments were passed with voice vote.
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