NT NETWORK

Margao

Several villages and municipality forums in the state have appealed to the Department of Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs to temporarily stop the use of biometric systems at fair price shops owing to the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Earlier last week, calls were made to the state government by fair price owners calling for exemption from biometric scanning on point of sale (PoS) machines to collect monthly rations and instead allow to follow the old practice of maintaining a register.

This week, panchayats like that of Seraulim and the consumer forum in Cuncolim have written to the department making similar requests. The village of Seraulim in its written submission to the department said, “There is an urgent need to suspend biometric system in fair price shops being presently used for collecting the monthly ration quota during this deadly second wave of the COVID pandemic. This will provide relief to hundreds of housewives and senior citizens in South Goa district who are worried about the spread of COVID-19.”

A similar representation was also sent by the Cuncolim Civic and Consumer Forum to the South Goa District Consumer Protection Council, the Salcete collector in addition to the department. With the current rise in COVID cases across Salcete, consumers have been concerned about the use of the biometric system used to obtain rations from fair price shops that is used by hundreds of people.