Tamil Nadu

Route charts made mandatory for trucks carrying PDS items

CHENNAI: Food Minister E.V. Velu said that his department had made it mandatory to have route charts on all trucks leaving warehouses. The chart must be displayed prominently on the vehicle. Any elected representative could check if the vehicle was sticking to its route, he informed the Assembly.

Mr. Velu said that though there was a rule to this effect, it was being enforced strictly only now.

His department had barred anyone from travelling on the roof of the vehicle, as it was found that pilferage was carried out from there. The entire crew had to travel inside the cabin.

This was among the many steps taken to ensure there was no diversion of PDS goods at any point, he said. The Government had decided that the best way to tackle the issue of under weighing was to introduce electronic weighing machines.

This was being done in a phased manner.

On an allegation that the department did not give PDS cards in a reasonable timeframe to applicants, he said that this was not true. More than 7.89 lakh cards had been given and the number not given was not large.

There was a large volume of duplication of applications and hence, the department has to look into all applications carefully and crosscheck to check duplication. This process took time, he conceded.

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