Civil supplies start doorstep delivery of grains on GPS-tracked vehicles

Panaji: From March 22 onwards, the department of civil supplies and consumer affairs started doorstep delivery of food grains to each fair price shop (FPS) across Goa as per the provision under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013.
“When we are dealing with govt grains, there has to be a particular system in place,” said director of civil supplies and consumer affairs Jayant Tari.
In the new system, all the vehicles are GPS-tracked to ensure the security of the quality and the quantity of the food grains. The vehicles are geofenced to ensure they don’t stray from their designated route.
“We are tracking and monitoring all the vehicles delivering food grains at the taluka level as well as at the head office in Panaji. There are about 30 vehicles each morning that regularly leave the taluka godowns for their jurisdictional FPSes. Unless the tracking system is activated, the vehicle cannot be loaded and dispatched for the day,” Tari said.
The food grains are supplied by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to the 12 taluka godowns in Goa.
Earlier, the FPS operators used to arrange their trucks, workers, and labourers for this task. Govt would pay them Rs 300 per metric tonne for the transportation and handling of the grains to the FPS for this.
Now, govt has taken over as per the mandate of the central govt. The allotted food grains will therefore be delivered to the doorstep of each FPS through the appointed agency of the department, free of cost.
“It was only after we floated the tender the fifth time that we got a competitive transportation rate. Since the vehicles are now under govt’s control, the assistant director at each taluka is now in charge of the efficiency of the service,” Tari said.
The appointed agency is currently transporting it to 450 FPSes across Goa.