THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is informed that it will take three more days to resolve the server fault in the ration E-POS machine which has been going on for two days. Food Minister GR Anil informed that it will take three days to resolve the technical glitch. Due to the server fault, only two lakh people could be distributed ration in two days. It was initially thought that the server crash could be resolved today, but it was not.

If the machine is operational by April 29th, the next day is Sunday and May 1st is a holiday as it is Labor Day. Minister GR Anil informed that ration distribution will be done till the 5th of next month for this reason. Instead of distributing ration to 4 to 5 lakh people every day, only 1.61 lahks were distributed on Monday and 84,891 on Tuesday. A total of 93.53 lakh people are to be distributed ration this month, but only 42.36 lakh people received it. The ration traders had closed their shops and went on strike after the server went down at 9:30 on Tuesday morning.

Ration distribution has been disrupted in many places due to the breakdown of EPOS machines for the past two weeks. This often led to clashes between the shop owner and those who came to buy the ration. The striking traders also pointed out that a cardholder has to spend 30-60 minutes at the shop to buy ration.

It is alleged that even after the Vishu Ramzan-Easter celebrations in April, less than 40 percent of food grains have been distributed through the ration shops. When the server started malfunctioning in March, the authorities explained that it was due to maintenance, but the problem is still not resolved.