Thiruvananthapuram: The ration distribution has come to a halt in the state due to a technical glitch in the Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) machines. State Civil Supplies Commissioner here on Wednesday had ordered to close ration shops immediately as the issue persisted for the third consecutive day. The decision was taken at a meeting attended by the food and civil supplies minister and higher officials.

Civil Supplies commissioner Dr Sajith Babu has givens directions regarding this to civil supplies officers in all districts. A voice clip has been sent to the officials asking them to shut the ration shops immediately. If necessary, the ration shop dealers are allowed to resume the sale after 4 pm. 

Meanwhile, a final decision on extending the last date for the sale of April will be taken by Wednesday evening. The distribution of ration for this month will conclude on April 29. 

Ration dealers protest
On Tuesday, the ration dealers resorted to a lightning strike, downing the shutters of their shops, with the EPOS system for ration distribution getting stalled for the second consecutive day due to server issues. Indications are that the strike will continue in the coming days as well. The server was paralyzed by 9.30 am on Tuesday. Soon, leaders of various organizations of ration dealers sat together, declared the strike, and shut the shops by noon.

The All-Kerala Retail Ration Dealers Association State Vice-President Johnson Vilavinal alleged that the taluk-level camps being organized to repair the EPOS machine by a private agency are just a farce. Johnson said that instead of correcting the real issues in the centralized server for the past two years, all the blame is being put on the ration dealers.

Just 2 lakh get ration quota
The EPOS machine functioned for two-and-a-half hours on Monday morning and then conked out.

Due to the server issues, only 2 lakh people could be given their ration quota in the past two days. Almost 10 lakh beneficiaries didn’t get their quota. If 1.61 lakh transactions were done through the EPOS system on Monday, the count was just 84,891 on Tuesday. This is against the usual 4 to 5 lakh daily transactions. With just four days remaining for the ration distribution for April to conclude, only 42.36 lakh (45.29%) out of the 93.53 lakh ration card holders have received their rations.

Angry card-holders
Earlier, a ration card holder had physically assaulted Sunitha, a salesgirl at a ration shop at Thevankad, Kattakada taluk in Thiruvananthapuram district, when he did not get his quota from the shop. The leaders of ration dealers’ organizations pointed out that the person assaulted Sunitha though she informed him that she could not serve due to server issues. The same has also instigated he dealers to declare a strike. However, neither the Civil Supplies Minister nor the Civil Supplies Department officials took any action to resolve the issue.