Punjab Smart Ration Card Scheme

Punjab Government has launched Smart Ration Card Scheme under NFSA which has been rolled out on 12 September 2020 by CM Captain Amarinder Singh.

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Key-Points

The state government of Punjab had already given its approval for replacement of blue cards under the Atta-Dal scheme with new smart ration cards.

As per the orders of State government, the Atta Dal Scheme has been renamed as Smart Ration Card Scheme.

This new scheme will cover 1.41 crore beneficiaries as per the new list. CM also announces a new state funded scheme to provide subsidized ration to 9 lakh beneficiaries not covered under NFSA.

Smart Ration Card will be used for withdrawing the food grains from the Fair Price Shops (FPS) through e-PoS machines without carrying any additional document.

The details of the family can be fetched at Fair Price Shops just by swiping the smart ration card at the ePoS machines. The biometric authentication after the card swipe will be required for food grain withdrawal.

One of the major benefits of the smart ration cards will be that these card would be intra-state portable, meaning the smart ration card holder would be able to withdraw food grains anywhere in the state irrespective of their permanent resident district.

Deputy Commissioners of all the districts in the state would be responsible for the re-verification of the beneficiaries. Punjab govt. has initiated process of making smart ration cards with chip to distribute subsidized ration to BPL families.