As we have already mentioned in our previous post, Govt. Of Tamil Nadu Co operative Department have started a new SMS service to get the stock availability of its PDS shops( Ration shops).
Here is the step by step instruction and tutorial as to how to get the update.And I must confess that I was indeed surprised that TN Govt. can make use of technology to provide public service. Ok Here we go..
Step 1: The system requires mainly two important data. The zone number or district code in Tamil Nadu which you belong to ,and the ration shop code or number.So first get hold of your ration card or family card.
District Code:
Look for the ration card number on top of your card. It might look something like this:
01/G/0557070
For example, in this number 01/ G/0557070 given for a family, the first two numbers, that is, 01 denotes the district code.
Ration Shop Code:IT
Next is the ration shop code: The shop code will be printed in the bottom of the ration card’s cover page.Suppose let us take an example of ration card number as BE014.
Step 2: Sending SMS Format:
The SMS must be sent in a specific format to any one of the following numbers:97890 06492, 97890 05450, 91764 80226, 91764 80227, 90948 31766, 97907 25349 and 91764 80216.
The SMS must be sent as PDS space district code space shop code
where PDS stands for Public Distribution System.
For example, if a card-holder in North Chennai wants to know the stock in his ration shop, he should first write PDS and leave a space and write 01, the code of the district and leave a space and write BE014.Thus, the SMS to be sent is this: PDS 01 BE014.
It is said in press release that SMS can be sent to any one of the numbers given above. In case , if the numbers given above don’t work, you can send SMS to the numbers corresponding to the district codes given here in this page
Note: These SMS requires nominal charges charged by the operators. One big relief is that these no.s are local numbers and so they are not charged if you have SMS booster enabled. So go ahead and make full use of this service.
Step 3: Received SMS and its Details
The received SMS comes from TM-RDS-PDS within few seconds and contains all the details such as the commodities and the available packets or quantities as shown below in this screenshot.