Bhubaneswar: To remove the chance of anyone holding more than one ration card to avail benefits, the Odisha Government announced roll out of ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ system from September 1 in the State, under which beneficiaries can buy subsidised foodgrains from ration shops in any part of the country.
The decision to fast track the roll out was taken after Centre gave a one-year deadline till June 30, 2020 to States and Union territories for rolling out the ‘one nation, one ration card’ system.
Now, the beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and also the State Food Security Scheme (SFSS) a beneficiary can avail share of foodgrain from any PDS centre in the country.
There are nearly 3.81 crore beneficiaries under NFSA and 24 lakh beneficiaries under the SFSS.
“The initiative will be implemented in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation area on a pilot basis from September 1. It will be replicated in other parts of the State in the next phase,” said Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare Ranendra Pratap Swain on Tuesday after reviewing the status of Aadhaar seeding in NFSA database.
Since November 2016, the Narendra Modi Government is implementing the NFSA, under which foodgrains are supplied every month at highly subsidised rates of Rs 1–3 per kg to over 80 crore people in the country.
Sources said Odisha can easily implement the portability as Point of Sale (PoS) machines have been installed in all ration shops in the State.
