With the launch of Smart Ration Card Scheme by the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh at Chandigarh, the Industries and Commerce Minister Sham Sunder Arora today personally handed over Smart Ration Cards to 10 beneficiaries of Hoshiarpur district.In a district level function held here at local Administrative Complex, Sunder Sham Arora said that it was a revolutionary step taken by the state Government, which would go a long way in providing wheat to the eligible beneficiaries digitally anywhere in the state. The Minister said that these cards would also enable the beneficiaries to take ration from any depot across Punjab as the chip enabled cards were linked ePoS machine along with all the details of beneficiaries and their families. He said that with launch of this scheme the beneficiaries were not bound to take their entitled wheat from a particular depot as these cards would be operational at all authorised ePoS machines. Giving details about the other features of Smart Ration Cards (SRC), Sunder Sham Arora pointed out that the ePoS machines would automatically fetch the data of the beneficiaries once the card used through ePoS machines any where in Punjab. The Minister also mentioned that in Hoshiarpur more than 35,000 cards had been received by the Administration, which were being handed over to registered beneficiaries. As many as 1,97,771 Smart Cards will be distributed amongst Smart Ration Card holders, said the Minister adding that these cards would cover 7,49,298 beneficiaries. He said that the remaining cards would also be handed over to eligible holders shortly.
Thanking Captain Amarinder Singh for fulfilling another major promise with the people of Punjab, the Minister said these new chip enabled cards would ensure far more transparency in the system of subsidised wheat distribution amongst beneficiaries besides plugging pilferages, if any. He said that the eligible beneficiaries or the members of his family already registered under Smart Ration Card could procure their allocated wheat from anywhere in the state. Sunder Sham Arora said that the State Government had covered all the eligible beneficiaries under the scheme to provide the subsidised wheat to them in a hassle free manner. The Minister also mentioned that as many as 1.41 crore members of 37 lakh families would be benefitted with this endeavour of the State Government. He said that now there was no need to carry any other document to depot for getting wheat if the beneficiary had Smart Ration Card.Meanwhile, the MLA from Chabbewal Dr Raj Kumar also expressed gratitude to the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh for not only providing smart ration cards but also providing a health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh to the beneficiaries under Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana, which would prove to be a boon for them. With the announcement by the CM to include nine lakh additional smart ration cards to the existing number in the state, the Hoshiarpur district would get additional 14,000 such cards, which provides a chance to those eligible beneficiaries, who could not get their cards made earlier, said Dr. Raj Kumar.Earlier, accompanied by the Sham Chaurasi MLA Pawan Kumar Adia, Dr Raj Kumar and Deputy Commissioner Apneet Riyait, the Minister personally handed over 10 Smart Ration Cards to beneficiaries namely Amrik Kaur, Nargis, Narinder Kaur, Jaspreet Singh, Surjit Kaur, Jeevan Kumari, Kasturi Lal, Sita Devi, Sudesh Rani and Sainchla.