Indian state to install GPS to track food supply
Chhattisgarh will go hi-tech to monitor the state's food scheme spread across 18 districts. Around 600 vehicles will be equipped with GPS devices providing information on the time taken by vehicles carrying rice after loading at the warehouses and before unloading the rice at PDS shops.
Chhattisgarh will install Global Positioning System (GPS) devices to track the movement of vehicles carrying subsidised rice for the poor to ensure effective implementation of the Rs 1,000 crore annual food security schemes.
Around 600 vehicles that supply subsidised rice for 3.7 million families through the Public Distribution System (PDS) will be equipped with the GPS devices, reports IANS.
The state government provides 35 kg rice a month at Rs two and Re one per kg under the Chief Minister's Food Security Scheme. The Re One per kg scheme is available only to 700,000 families under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana that covers the poorest of poor families.
The Chhattisgarh State Civil Supplies Corporation has issued tender inviting companies to install, maintain and operate the GPS devices and integrate them with the existing software for tracking of PDS vehicles in all the 18 districts.
"The whole exercise to adopt technology is aimed at having a monitoring system for the state's food scheme that covers over 60% of the state's 20.08 million population," a senior Food Department official said.
The GPS devices will give complete information on where and for how long the vehicles carrying rice halted after loading at the warehouses and before unloading the rice at PDS shops.
