Haryana minister of state for food, civil supplies and consumer affairs Rajesh Nagar has directed officials to accelerate the process of opening 4,000 new ration depots under the public distribution system (PDS), in line with chief minister Nayab Singh Saini’s budget announcement.The minister said that the margin money payable to ration depot holders should be credited to their accounts by the 10th of every month. (HT Photo for representation)Nagar also instructed that information regarding depots whose licences have been suspended or cancelled and subsequently attached to nearby depots should be communicated both to the department headquarters and the general public to ensure that ration beneficiaries do not face any inconvenience.Chairing a review meeting with all district food and supplies controllers through video conferencing, Nagar said that effective implementation of the central government’s “one nation, one ration card” initiative remains a key priority of the department. He directed officials to update Aadhaar-linked data of defective point of sale (PoS) machines and ensure that modern facilities such as iris scanners and facial recognition scanners are incorporated into them.The minister said that the margin money payable to ration depot holders should be credited to their accounts by the 10th of every month. He also instructed the department to constitute a special team at the headquarters level to monitor depot stocks and conduct random inspections at least four to five times every month.As per official data, Haryana has a total of 40 lakh families covered under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and below poverty line (BPL) categories, comprising 1.57 crore beneficiaries who receive ration every month. This includes 2.86 lakh Antyodaya families and 37.14 lakh BPL families.The officials present in the meeting stated that under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), Antyodaya families receive 35kg of wheat free of cost per family, while BPL beneficiaries receive 5kg of wheat per member free of charge. Additionally, through the PDS, beneficiaries are provided 1kg of sugar at ₹13.50 per kg, along with one-litre and two-litre packs of mustard oil at prices lower than prevailing market rates.Nagar directed officials to study the PDS of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan to examine what additional commodities are being provided to beneficiaries in those states along with ration supplies.Commissioner and secretary of the department, J Ganesan, informed the minister that a dedicated portal is being developed for the payment of margin money to depot holders. Once operational, the payment process will become automated, and the amount will be directly credited to the accounts of depot operators.