The SMS service number 9980904040 which has been in vogue for more than a year now is being added to every bill generated for the beneficiaries. The move to include the service number follows a spike in number of complaints related to bogus billing of commodities either by vendors when the PDS beneficiaries had not actually purchased their permitted ration. 

Until last month, the automated service SMS from the server would have details of the bill reference number, quantity of the essential commodities purchased followed by the price, and the total. From February, the SMS carries the number to forward complaints from their registered mobile numbers. Sources said that the decision was already taken at a high-level meeting. 

A senior official said that the state had already brought in reforms to real time monitoring of stock, and details of transactions carried out in FPS, by use of point of sale devices. 

“Every transaction right from the moment the stock arrives and until it runs out gets recorded in the e-ledger maintained by the department”, the official said. With this popularisation drive, complaints can be raised from 1,91,77,604 mobile numbers registered with the department. A total of 1.94 crore family cards are availing of ration from the state.

SMS the following code to 9980904040 from the mobile number registered or mapped with the family card 

PDS <space> 101 - Availability of commodity stock at Ration Shop 

PDS <space> 102 - Status of Ration Shop (Open / Close) 

PDS <space> 107 - Complaints about Billing