Photo Courtesy: India Today Group
Aizawl: Mizoram is cracking down on ration diversion. Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister B Lalchhanzova announced that all trucks hauling rice must install AIS-140 compliant GPS devices. The department will track these vehicles from a central command room. Trucks without functional trackers stay off the road. An app-based system from the Centre and World Food Programme will serve as an interim measure until the full GPS network goes live by late December.
Fair price shops face strict new rules. The state is linking ePoS machines with digital scales to stop under-weighing and phantom distribution. Officials have already trained retailers for November operations. However, 263 shops dealing with equipment or connectivity snags have temporary clearance to use older methods. Lalchhanzova said, "The state was moving towards digitising the entire rice distribution network through three systems." These include a supply chain management program, a route optimization tool, and a vehicle location system.
Financial shifts are underway. The government hiked margins for Antyodaya Anna Yojana and Priority Household retailers to Rs 3 per kg. Other categories now sit at Rs 2 per kg. Town trip transport rates jumped from Rs 50 to Rs 75 per quintal. Mizoram moves 91,000 quintals of rice monthly. The Food Corporation of India provides 54,798.33 quintals, while the state picks up the remaining 36,000 quintals on the open market. Officials plan to slash open-market buying significantly to save Rs 52.19 crore by the 2026-27 fiscal year. Currently, 1,266 shops serve over 1.17 million people across 2,96,051 ration cards.
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