The Uttar Pradesh government is expediting the rollout of e-POS devices in all ration shops across the state.

On the government’s instructions, the Food and Civil Supplies Department has entrusted the responsibility of developing software for its monitoring to Uttar Pradesh Development Systems Corporation Limited (UPDESCO).

In this sequence, UPDESCO has started appointing an agency to ensure that all ration shops in the state are equipped with e-POS machines and to ensure their automation and regular monitoring processes, officials here on Thursday said.

According to the plan of the state government, e-POS machines integrated with the Weighing Scale (WES) will be installed in ration shops. The automation process of ration shops will gain momentum after UPDESCO appoints the agency. UPDESCO has initiated the process and invited applications from empanelled agencies.

Notably, the selected agency will not only ensure that Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) devices are installed in all ration shops across the state, but also their operation, maintenance, and regular monitoring framework. These e-POS devices installed in ration shops will be based on Electronic Weighing Scales (EWS).

After installing e-POS devices and automating all ration shops across the state, dedicated software will be developed for their regular monitoring. To ensure consistent oversight, the development of the POS application will be accompanied by the completion of a proper framework and training of the Food and Civil Supplies Department staff.

It is noteworthy that there are 79,500 Fair Price Shops in the state benefiting 3.59 crore families. These shops distribute ration, including approximately 80 lakh quintals of food grains, to beneficiaries under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana every month.

Therefore, the state government is speeding up the implementation of this process to protect beneficiaries from adulteration and black marketing, as well as ensuring complete transparency.

The process of installation and automation of e-POS machines, as well as software development, will be completed in two phases. In Phase One, the implementation of all EWS-equipped e-POS devices in the state will be monitored. Subsequently, Phase Two will focus on completing the project management process for the operation of e-POS devices in ration shops.

To ensure the success of this initiative, SLA monitoring and reporting of the system integrator will be ensured in all ration shops across urban and rural areas of Uttar Pradesh. The status of implementation of various processes will be monitored by preparing progress reports along with analysis of Management Information Systems (MIS) reports from time to time.