All 20 FCI regional offices asked to implement vehicle tracking system

State-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) has been asked to install a vehicle tracking system in all its 20 regional offices to track the trucks moving subsidised foodgrains from warehouses to depots to curb illegal diversion, the government informed Parliament on Tuesday.

"So far, the 'Vehicle Tracking System' (VTS) tender could be finalised only in following five regions, namely Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand," Minister of State for Food and Consumer Affairs Danve Raosabeb Dadarao said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Further, as part of an earlier scheme on 'End-to-End Computerisation of Public Distribution System (PDS) Operations' almost all states and Union Territories have completed the computerisation of supply chain management operations for online monitoring of the receipts and issuance of foodgrains, he said.

Besides, online generation of delivery orders, truck challans, gate passes, etc. including the delivery of SMS alerts to Fair Price Shop dealers have also been put in place, he added.

To another query, the minister said the Centre has initiated a massive effort for the transformation of FCI for enhancing transparency in its operations by emulating best practices at the international level for procurement of foodgrains, inventory management, warehousing, distribution etc. with the objective to integrate the same in the FCI ecosystem.