‘e-KYC enrolment for ration cards suspended’

The e-KYC enrolment of all ration cardholders has been suspended temporarily, Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Deputy Director B K Kusumadhar said.

There are a series of complaints from the public on poor server connectivity that had affected e-KYC and Aadhaar linkage, Kusumadhar said at the phone-in programme, organised by Prajavani at its office in Udupi on Thursday.

The family members had to wait in a long queue in order to update the details.

Despite waiting for hours, there was no guarantee that their details would be updated. As per the circular issued by government, the grains will be supplied through Public Distribution System without the e-KYC enrolment to all ration cardholders, he added.

Return cards

He appealed to the public to return ineligible BPL ration cards to the department immediately. The department had already initiated a drive to check the eligibility of priority household or below poverty line (BPL) ration cards. In Udupi district, already 2,000 such ineligible BPL cards were identified and converted to APL cards. If anyone is caught misusing the BPL cards, then the value of food grains collected by them from ration shops will be recovered from them, he warned.

A total of 2,09,317 Antyodaya, BPL and APL ration cards have been issued in the district. Providing thumb impression at fair price shop will help in preventing pilferage of the food grains. The grains distributed in the name of deceased and those who have returned to their husband’s house after marriage will be saved. The biometric system helps in bringing in transparency in the system, Kusumadhar added.

Nikitha, a caller, said that her ration card had the address of Gundibail while she was residing in Kalyanapur. However, the ration shop owner fails to distribute food grains to the card, she said.

To which, he said state portability under the public distribution system enabled the beneficiaries to get commodities from any fair price shops in Karnataka. The issue can be brought to the notice of the department at Tahsildar office. Arrangement will be made to distribute food grains from the ration shop situated at Kalyanapura from next month, he added.

Sunny Joseph from Jadkal said that the society, which runs PDS at Muduru Jadkal, is opened only for four to five days in a month and supplies less quantity of food grains to the ration cardholders. The Deputy Director said that the ration shops should be opened on all the days except on Sunday. If there was any discrepancies in the supply of the grains, then strict action will be initiated after the department receives a complaint on the same.

When Shankar from Maravanthe sought to know the crieteria for availing the APL ration card, the officer said that Aadhaar card and residential proof was sufficient for getting the card.