Chandigarh, Aug 28 (IANS) The Haryana government has formulated a Rs 1.53-billion plan to replace nearly 5.

2 million ration cards in the state with smart cards.

Once implemented, Haryana will become the first state in the country to have smart cards for the public distribution system, state government officials here said.

The state is awaiting the nod of the central government to implement the scheme. The cards would be made by the Haryana State Electronic Development Corporation (Hartron).

The smart cards will even carry details of the monthly entitlement of each poor family when they buy things at subsidised rates from fair price shops.

Finger print templates of the members would also be stored in the card to ensure that the transaction happens only in the presence of the beneficiary, a state government spokesman said here.