Ration shop workers with the petition urging officials to resolve the various issues they face, at the Office of the Joint Registrar of Cooperative Societies in Erode on Friday.
| Photo Credit: M. GOVARTHAN
The Tamil Nadu Ration Shop Employees’ Union on Friday (June 12) urged officials to resolve technical and administrative issues in the implementation of the Thayumanavar Scheme and the eKYC process, warning of a boycott of scheme-related work from July if its demands are not met.In a petition submitted to the Office of the Joint Registrar of Cooperative Societies (Erode Region) here, the union said fair price shop employees, who form the backbone of the Public Distribution System, were facing mounting stress owing to technical glitches and increased workload and pressure from officials.The union sought wider public awareness of facilities available through the TNEPDS mobile application and the provisions for authorising representatives to collect commodities on behalf of elderly beneficiaries. It also demanded a temporary freeze-and-release mechanism for beneficiaries who have not completed eKYC, enabling accounts to be reactivated automatically upon biometric authentication.Among other demands were the removal of bluetooth-based processes from the scheme, citing delays caused by biometric and connectivity issues, and the deployment of dedicated personnel and additional Point of Sale (POS) devices.The union also sought exemption from scheme-related duties for women employees, persons with disabilities, pregnant staff and elderly workers. It called for the distribution of three months’ commodities in a single instalment, implementation of the scheme after the 10th of every month to ease workload pressures, CCTV camera monitoring in warehouses and uniform working hours for fair price shops across the State.The union appealed for early intervention by the district administration and said employees would boycott Thayumanavar Scheme work from July if their grievances remained unresolved by the end of June. Published - June 12, 2026 05:31 pm IST
