Teachers now told to monitor festival hamper distribution

The distribution will be made in more than 35,000 PDS shops and expected to continue even after Pongal festival. About 2.06 crore ration cardholders are expected to be benefited.

A senior official from the School Education Department, seeking anonymity, told DT Next that as more crowds are expected to receive the money, the government has sought the help of government teachers to monitor it.

“To control huge crowd, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic situation is very difficult with the availability of less number of existing staff in PDS shops,” he pointed out and added, “as the teachers do not conduct online class at the elementary level, those persons were deployed.”

Stating that the number of teachers per PDS has been decided according to the requirement, he said “teachers will not only ensure that all the ration shops were adopting Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) but also regulate the crowd.”

The official said teachers were also asked to adopt all SOP, including wearing facemasks and carrying sanitizers to set an example for the public.

Explaining other works during the distribution of money at PDS, the official said that the teachers will also give daily reports about the list of beneficiaries. “The list of the beneficiaries, which was sent by the teachers, will be complied and would be compared to the original ration cardholders’ database,” he added.

“In addition, they will also look into any irregularities,” he said.