MANGALURU: Officials of food, civil supplies and consumer affairs and legal meteorology departments started a drive against shops having non-approved and non-ISI marked weighing machines On Thursday, as many as 394 machines were inspected, out of which 71 were found non-compliant with the guidelines, said U T Khader , minister for food and civil supplies.Speaking to reporters on Friday, Khader said that the government has started cracking whip on those shops or commercials outlets importing sub-standard weighing machines from China. "We have started the drive across the state as there were many complaints about such machines," Khader said.Raids are being carried out so that common man is not cheated or fleeced by shops using such non-standardized machines, the minister said.Cases have also been booked against persons selling such machines that were found in shopping malls, retail, wholesale outlets and shops.In Bengaluru Urban, as many 61 shops were raided and 31 cases were booked. In Bengaluru Rural 58 shops were inspected and one case was booked. In Mysuru division, 108 shops were raided and 24 cases were booked, in Belagavi 15 cases booked and 134 shops were raided and in Gulbarga one case was booked.The minister said that out of 8.25 lakh ration cards, the department has already verified 2.25 lakh cards and about 50,000 cards have been disbursed to the beneficiaries.Khader said all fair price shops in the states will be installed with the Point Of Sale (POS) machines. "This system will help us get an update about food grains distribution by click of a button. There are allegations that some shop owners open shops only twice a month. This new method will force the shopkeepers to disburse ration by the end of month. Those shops which install POS will get Rs 87 as commission per quintal of rice, he added.When asked about the connectivity issues, Khader clarified that officers will check the connectivity and POS machines won't be installed if there are issues. So far 10,000 out of 24,400 fair price shops have installed POS machines.

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