Now, citizens can place orders for farm fresh vegetables at their nearest ration or public distribution system (PDS) shops.
The Maharashtra government has started a pilot project in Mumbai and its neighbouring district Thane as of now. Later, it can be implemented in the rest of the state depending on the response.
This pilot initiative of the food and civic supplies department is limited to Mumbai and Thane cities for now, Vijay Waghmare, the secretary of the department said.
Experts believe that the initiative will benefit farmers, shopkeepers and consumers who can get fresh produce. People can place their orders at PDS shops, which will serve as a link between the produce organisations and consumers. Customers will be notified when their order arrives.
Earlier, the state government had started an initiative in which stationary products could be sold at PDS shops in rural areas, as items sold in these regions were either of bad quality or expensive, the official said.
The scheme was successfully tried and tested in Pune. Once the initiative gained traction, its ambit was further extended to groceries as well, official added.
In addition, farmers’ produce organisations from Pune and Nashik approached the department seeking that even their produce be sold through PDS shops after both these schemes received a good response.
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