In a bid to eliminate bogus ration cards, food minister R. Kamaraj on Monday announced that smart family cards would be issued in Pudukottai district on a pilot basis at the cost of Rs 21.69 crore.
Replying to the demand for grants for food and consumer department, the minister said the smart cards would be issued based on the biometric data obtained by the Director of Census for National Population Registry.
“The Director of Census Operations under NPR is conducting biometric data capturing of 10 fingerprints and iris of citizens to issue unique identification number,” he said, adding that the project would be later extended to all other districts.
“At present, there is no foolproof system to identify the dual/multiple registration of one’s name in the family cards.
To rectify this, it has been proposed to replace the existing family cards in circulation with biometric data based smart family cards,” the minister said, adding that a request has been made for Central aid for the estimated `703.21 crore expenditure for the project.
Mr Kamaraj said that Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC) would do away with the system of paying hard cash to farmers in procurement of paddy.
Instead, the government plans to issue ATM cards to eight lakh farmers and money would be directly paid into their accounts, he said.
The minister said that 7,800 women self help group members would be trained to create awareness on consumer protection in 900 villages at the cost of Rs 1.31 crore.
He also said that chief minister has ordered setting up of 500 students consumer forum with a special fund of Rs 2,500 each to create consumer education and awareness among students.
The minister also announced that 100 new buildings would be constructed for ration shops run by the corporation.
Of 1,394 shops run by the corporation, 899 are operated in the rented buildings.
Two new modern godowns with a 1m500 MT capacity would be built at Eluppur in Pudukottai and Krishnarayapuram in Karur at the cost of Rs 85 lakh each.