In a first of its kind initiative, Haryana Government has recently set up its first ATM machine for dispensing food grains at Farrukhnagar in Gurugram. Haryana's Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala recently took to Twitter to make the announcement. "I am announcing with a great pride that country's first food grain ATM 'Annapurti' has been set up in Gurugram district of Haryana. The purpose of this ATM is to make the distributions of grains at government-run ration shops easy and hassle-free," he wrote in Hindi. Haryana Deputy CM further informed that each machine can dispense up to 70kg of grains within five to seven minutes, at a time.
As a part of this pilot project, the Haryana Government is further planning to install these grain ATMs in every government-run ration shop across the state. According to an official statement, Dushyant Chautala said, "The purpose of installing this machine is to ensure that the right quantity should reach the right beneficiary with minimum hassle."
The statement further read that the 'Grain ATM' is an automatic machine the bank ATMs, and here, the error in the measurement of grains is negligible. The machine also has a biometric system with a touch-screen, where the beneficiaries have to enter their Aadhaar or ration card number to get their grains.
"This machine will be installed under the ''World Food Programme'' of United Nations, and is called Automated, Multi Commodity, Grain Dispensing Machine," read the official statement.
Soon after the announcement, the news made the headlines and people took to their social media handles to applaud the initiative.
"We welcome food relief efforts like #Annapurti Grain ATM and wish for successful results so they may benefit more communities and people," tweeted non-profit organisation Akshaya Patra Foundation.
Another tweet read, "This is really an innovative and revolutionary step taken by @Dchautala that will bring transparency and accuracy in distribution and availability of grain to the right set of people. Appreciate!"
"A great initiative. Dispensing ration through foodgrain ATM. Hope it works well. Will make lives of millions easier," a third tweet read.