Trichy: In an effort to transfer the payment of fertiliser subsidy directly to the farmers, the agriculture department has launched the distribution of Point of Sale machines (POS) in Trichy district. According to authorities, this move will help the government to reduce the fertiliser subsidy bill by upto 20 percent, as the effort would plug diversion and leakages of fertilisers. A total of 321 private retailers and 147 cooperative retailers will be equipped with POS devices in Trichy district.The system can track purchases by the final buyer and record transactions at individual farmer level. Hence judicious usage of fertilizsers by farmers will also be ensured. Further, linking subsidy payment to data generated at the retail sale point leaves no scope for diversion, which was so far possible from godowns or rail rake point, a senior official from agriculture department said.Nor can the heavily subsidised fertilisers be smuggled or diverted to non-agricultural purposes. Under the proposed system, payment of subsidy is to be based on weekly settlement of claims from the sales data captured on POS machines.All POS would be linked to the central server where it is possible to track the movement of fertilisers from the production plant to, till it reaches the hands of the farmer, besides ensuring the subsidy is released to the manufacturers after the completion of sales, he added.So far, the fertiliser firms were paid the subsidy on receipt of their fertiliser at the railhead point or at any approved godown in a district. They got the subsidy on dispatch of material from their respective factories.But now, the disbursal of subsidy will be done only after it is sold to the farmer. The farmer's identity will also be verified through Aadhar number. The sale transaction as well as buyer details would be captured in the POS machine installed at the retailer's end and connected with a central server, he added.Earlier while launching the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system for the payment of fertiliser subsidy to farmers here on Saturday, district collector K Rajamani said that once the machines become operational, all fertiliser sales would be effected only through POS. "Anyone who wants to buy fertilisers will have to produce Aadhar card and should affix their finger in POS, even for buying a single kilogram of the same", he said.The deputy director of agriculture (Fertilisers), Directorate of Agriculture, Chennai said that the distribution of POS machines has been completed in most districts and will be completed in all districts in the state before July 31, 2017. Joint director of agriculture department Uduman Mohideen was also present on the occasion.

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