On Independence Day,the city will get its first computerised fair price shop that will issue domestic LPG cylinders through smart cards. Aimed at ensuring that the whole population gets access to LPG with no one having to adopt unfair means,the system will soon be replicated in all the 1,100 fair price shops in the city. Announcing the pilot project,Apurva Chandra,Joint Secretary,Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas,Government of India,said the centre would provide Rs 20 crore for the project to be implemented in cooperation with oil marketing companies. It will be a first-of-its-kind initiative. We should see Pune a kerosene-free city in six to eight months. We will cover the entire population, said Chandra after a meeting with Pune Divisional Commissioner Dilip Band and representatives of oil companies in the city on Friday. Chandra said cardholders would get a unique identification number that will keep a check on unfair means people often adopt to obtain kerosene or LPG. Pune city at present has nine lakh registered ration cardholders and there are nearly 12 lakh LPG connections in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad areas. Band,who has been following up the pilot project with the Union government,said,We will test the system at one fair price shop and replicate it in the remaining shops. The smart card software would be readied by the Science and Technology Park for the pilot project and by August 15,we will launch the system. The procedures for the tender will be completed in three months. After the first shop gets it,the system would be completed for other shops after the Assembly elections,said Band. The government plans to replicate the project in Hyderabad and Bangalore after its response is assessed in Pune. Step to make city Kerosene-FreeThe PILOTproject will be launched on Independence DaySmart Card system will be replicated in all the 1,100 fair price shops soonCardholderswill get a unique identification numberOnce thewhole population is covered,Pune is expected to become kerosene-free
