*Lays foundation of LMD Lab at Udhampur
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 9: Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA), Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali, today asked the officers to expedite Aadhar seeding process and linking of ration cards with Aadhaar unique identification numbers to ensure better delivery of services besides cut down on fake beneficiaries.
The Minister said this during a video conferencing with various Deputy Commissioners of Kashmir province to review the status of ration card seeding with Aadhar and various other works being done under FCS&CA Department.
Highlighting the importance of Aadhaar seeding and linking of cards with the Aadhaar numbers, the Minister said the main aim of the activity is to weed out bogus rationees and ration cards from the system and ensure that the benefit reaches to the deserving people in a systematic manner.
“Besides ensuring equitable distribution of foodgrains among targeted beneficiaries the process will also help the department to move over to cashless transactions”, said the Minister, adding that it would also drastically cut down on pilferage of food grains at various distribution points.
The Minister also sought update on progress of various initiatives taken by FCS&CA to switch over to digital mode. He said introduction of electronic point of sale (e-PoS) devices at food sale points would help in increasing transparency in the functioning of the department as the device authenticates beneficiaries during distribution of grains and also electronically records the amount of grains distributed.
Asking for frequent surprise checks of various hotels, the Minister said district administration should ensure that consumers are not made to pay service charge by any hotel in their respective areas.
Secretary, FCS&CA Shafiq Ahmad Raina, Special Secretary, FCS&CA, Nisar Ahmad Wani, Director, FCS&CA, Tassduq Jeelani, and other concerned officers were present in the meeting.
Meanwhile, Zulfkar Ali laid the foundation stone for Working Standard Laboratory Complex of Legal Metrology Department near Supply Morh, Udhampur.
MLA Udhampur Pawan Gupta, Secretary to Government FCS&CA Shafiq Ahmed Raina, Deputy Commissioner Niraj Kumar, Director FCS &CA G.S. Chib, SSP Dr. Shailendra Kumar Mishra were also present on the occasion.
Speaking at the foundation laying ceremony, the Minister highlighted the crucial role of Legal Metrology Department in enforcing and maintaining uniformity and accuracy in the weight and measuring instruments used by the traders in the State. He added that far reaching reforms have been introduced by the Government to strengthen the department and enable it to perform its role more effectively.
“The construction of working standard laboratories in various districts and Research labs in Jammu and Srinagar are some path breaking steps taken in this direction,” said the Minister.
He asked the State Housing Board – the executing agency, to complete the construction of the complex in a time bound manner. “After the availability of the facility in their own districts, the local traders need not to visit Jammu or some other places for standardization and calibration of weight instruments,” he asserted.
Reiterating that the Government is committed to the equitable development of all the regions of the State, the Minister said that the people are feeling the change.
Earlier, MLA Pawan Gupta, while speaking on the occasion, highlighted the benefits that the business establishments would get after the commissioning of the Laboratory. He also requested the Minister for opening a Research and Development Centre at Udhampur.
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