Citizens of Mumbai, Thane can now order farm-fresh vegetables from public ration shops

In a one of its kind project, public ration shops under PDS in Mumbai will provide farm-fresh vegetables to the people on order. Reportedly, this initiative of the State Food and Civic Supplies Department has been rolled out in Thane, in addition to Mumbai for its pilot run. Once the scheme picks momentum, it will be scaled and implemented across Maharashtra, Vijay Waghmare, secretary food and civil supplies department saidauthorities said.

Vijay Waghmare, Secretary Food and Civil Supplies Department stated that the Maharashtra government had earlier launched a similar initiative, wherein stationery products were sold at PDS shops in rural limits. The rationale behind this step was to introduce quality goods and affordable goods and supplies in the remote regions of the sate, the official said.

The demo-trials of this scheme were conducted in Pune first. It was later introduced across other groceries stores, after it gained popularity. Buoyed by the success of the same, the department has decided accede the request of farmers' produce organisations from Pune and Nashik approached and introduce the retail of farm vegetables too.

Notably, both these organisation have a considerable presence in urban areas of Maharashtra. The enterprises are digitally traceable through mobile apps and also feature efficient supply chains, the official added. This can help to extend the services in rural areas too.

People who need to get farm-fresh produce and vegetables can place their orders at the nearest ration or PDS shops, which will act as a link between the consumer and farmers. Once the ration shops get these orders, they will notify the customers to come and collect it. Designed on a simple aggregator-based service, the initiative will holistically advantage farmers, shopkeepers and consumers.