Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said, 91,000 fair price shops (FPSs) have been automated till now. He said, all the 5.35 lakh FPSs will be automated by March 2019. Paswan told Rajya Sabha, direct transfer of food subsidy to beneficiaries linked to Aadhar Card is being done on a pilot basis in Chandigarh, Puducherry and urban areas of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. <br/><br/>On the basis of the results of the pilot study, it will be extended to all states in phases, he added. The minister said, automation will plug leakages in the food distribution system and savings to the tune of several hundred crores. Replying to an oral question, Paswan said, Centre has requested all states and union territories to complete the digitization of the database of beneficiaries and also to seed available Aadhar numbers to it.