Women’s Day buzz

International Women’s Day celebrations were organised with enthusiasm at Civil supplies  with a message that women empowerment would accelerate nation’s development.

Speaking at the celebrations organised in the Civil Supplies Bhavan, Civil Supplies Commissioner C.V. Anand said the strength and capabilities of women should be acknowledged and respected. More than 50 crore women were working in all fields and they should not be silent about their rights.

Telangana Civil Supplies Department gets another pat

Food and Civil Supplies Secretary Government of India Ravikanth was all praise for Telangana for achieving excellent progress by using modern technology to curb irregularities in Civil Supplies Department(CSD)

Terming the move as inspirational, Ravikanth who visited the CSD Office on Saturday here said CSD has become ideal to the country by giving importance to transparency, accountability, and by introducing innovative reforms in the department. He said, Online Procurement Management System (OPMS), Command Control Centre, CC Cameras in Godowns, T-Ration App will stand as guidelines to all other states.

Accompanied by FCI South Regional Executive Director, FCI Telangana Manger, Ravikanth came on a two day official visit to Telangana. They visited Command Control Centre in Telangana Civil Supplies Bhavan, reviewed live telecast of vehicle movements carrying ration commodities, functioning of CC Cameras installed in statewide Civil Supplies godowns. Commissioner for Civil Supplies C.V. Anand gave them a  presentation on the reforms taken up in Telangana Civil Supplies.

The Team members made a field visit at Musheerabad MLS Point, viewed CC Cameras performance, inspected rice quality stored in godowns. They also visited a FP shop situated in Punjagutta checked e-Pos working and had a small discussion with the beneficiaries present at the shop.

Ravikanth while appreciating the efforts said the Telangana government is giving top priority in using technology in every aspect. He praised Telangana Civil Supplies reforms, mainly paddy procurement system is very good in Telangana state, without any avoiding middlemen involvement, procuring directly from the farmers at MSP and paying to their respected bank account through online.

Lesser the burden on the State : C.V. Anand

Mr.Anand requested to lesser the burden on the states and take necessary measures in releasing the pending dues of Rs.4047 crore from Center.

He said that Center to  continue the previous policy in Gunny bags purchasing, as per the new policy introduction in 2017-18 Kharif season, state will face estimate loss of Rs. 59 crores.

Transport charges are allowed for transportation of paddy from PPC’s to Rice mills is very less as per the market price.  Rates fixed by the District Collectors or FCI rates whichever is less is paid for the transportation and in 2016-17 Kharif season we lost about Rs. 137 crores under this Head.

Local Mandi Labour charges are insufficient compared to Central and State government. Local Mandi Charges are around Rs. 30 per quintal, whereas Centre pays Rs. 5.50. This is eroding the MSP paid to the farmers. Request for enhancement of Mandi Labour Charges as per the prevailing open market rates to protect the farmers interest. For 2010-11 to 2016-17 Kharif season total amount of Rs. 363.37 crores are withheld by FCI towards Market fee, RD Cess, C&M charges, Commission, etc. It is requested to advice FCI to release the pending amounts.

Previous year in Rabi season massive grain yield was recorded, but problems were faced as FCI could not provide sufficient space to store them. Taking consideration these we request FCI to provide sufficient storage for 2017-18 Rabi season for the estimated 15 Lakh Metric tons of CMR.

Technology helps prevent irregularities: Anand

Commissioner for Civil Supplies C.V. Anand said that the introduction of technology and reforms in Civil Supplies Department yielded good results. 

“IT helped in bringing transparency, accountability and quick results in department. Telangana Civil Supplies is achieving best results by using technology in every essential aspect. We have succeeded in putting breaks irregular activities and also we have made Civil Supplies much more reachable to the common man,” he said while addressing a two day conference on 21st National e-Governance which began here on Monday. On the second day of the conference on Tuesday, a PowerPoint presentation on various measures and reforms taken for strengthening Civil Supplies in Telangana was given by Commissioner C.V. Anand.

He said that the Central Government is supplying 5 Kgs of rice for Rs. 3 to every National Food Security card holder, whereas Telangana Government is giving 6 Kgs at Rs. 1 to every individual in the family. 2.75 crores are benefitted across the state. Online Procurement Management System (OPMS) online purchase and payment was made to farmers directly without any involvement of middlemen. 2016 Khariff and 2017 Rabi and Khariff season 15 lack farmers were paid Rs. 11,000 crores directly to their accounts. This policy is been adopted by other states also, he informed. 

By computerization, every move right from supply to distribution, Epos machines in ration shops, electronic weighing machines, GPS to transport vehicles, CC cameras at godowns helped in supply of essential commodities to eligible beneficiaries and misleading of the goods is removed. This all activities are been viewed live at Command Control Centre established at Civil Supplies Bhavan, Hyderabad. In short span of time in all the district Civil Supplies officers Command Control Centers will be installed, he said. 

Anand said with the introduction of Epos system in Ration shops, 12 to 15 % of balance rice is shown every month. Ration Portability (Ration from anywhere) is successfully running. SMS is sent to the beneficiaries as soon as the stock is arrived to ration shop from godowns. 

T-Ration Mobile App helps even common man to view live transactions in PDS and Civil Supplies officials also perform their daily services with the help of 13 government services applications in T-Ration App. 

e-POS deployed in all ration shops

The electronic point of sale (e-PoS) project of the Civil Supplies Department to supply rice under public distribution system at fair price shops became fully operational across Telangana on Thursday with the installation of state-of-the-art Android machines linked to weighing machines that were run by bluetooth.
Barring 212 shops in interior areas of Asifabad and Adilabad districts that had connectivity problems, the e-PoS was completed in all the 17,000 shops of the State, said Civil Supplies Commissioner C.V. Anand.
He told a press conference on Thursday that the project took off on a pilot basis in March 2016 in 1,540 shops of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation limits on the standard Linux machines.
Android machines
Then, the Android machines on rent of ₹ 1,499 per month per device were introduced in 800 shops in Mahbubnagar in April last year. In the next 10 months, they were extended to all other districts in a phased manner.
Explaining the features of the project, Mr. Anand said the machines greatly resolved malpractices by shop dealers.
The fingerprints of both dealers and customers were saved in the machines. The Aadhaar details of customers were also linked to the machines for Aadhaar enabled payment systems and delivery of ration to any of the member of the beneficiary families.
Great savings
The introduction of machines had saved 2.15 lakh tonnes of rice worth ₹ 578.91 crore from misuse as the dealers were forced to record closing balances. On an average, about 20,000 tonnes of rice was saved monthly. Otherwise, they used to show nil closing balance and sell the stock in black market.

C.V.Anand met Hon'ble Governor ESL Narasimhan