Computerization of Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS)

In the light of guidelines issued by Govt. of India, the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Department has undertaken the end-to-end computerization of the TPDS system to eradicate malpractices from National Food Security Act Scheme and distribute food commodities to eligible beneficiaries in a transparent manner. Department has issued the GR dated 18.05.2016 regarding distribution of PDS commodities by authenticating biometric identity of beneficiary.

The department is also working on Aadhaar seeding into the Ration Card Management System and has already completed seeding of 16120891 ration cards out of 16121581 ration cards covered under the NFSA Act till December, 2023. Aadhaar seeding of 99.99% ration cards of this schemes has been completed. Issuance of new ration cards, reduction or addition of names in old ration cards, reduction of names of duplicate/ineligible/deceased beneficiaries is a continuous process and accordingly the number of ration cards and the percentage of Aadhaar seeding varies. The Department has installed Point of Sale (PoS) Device in 53028 Fair Price Shops across the State. Also, the distribution of food grains through PoS devices after biometric verification of Aadhar has resulted in decrease in lifting of food grains of nearly 7,52,847 MT in the financial year 2019-20.

In May 2018, Maharashtra has launched AePDS across all Fair Price Shops and Inter-State & pan-state portability was introduced. This novel system has met the objective of availability, access, and utilization of food grains to the marginal section of society dependent upon Government for its food requirements. In September, 2023 nearly 1.45 Crore families availed ration with Aadhaar based biometric authentication. Food grain is being distributed through Route Nominee facility from fair price shops declared No Network.