Deadline over, ration card verification yet to pick up

Parvesh Sharma

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Tribune News Service

Jind, January 2

The Food and Supplies Department project launched in November 2014 to digitise and verify ration cards to exclude ineligible beneficiaries of subsidies is struggling.

District-wise details till today show that though majority of districts have started digitisation of ration cards, verification is yet to pick up pace. Jind tops the verification tally of ration cards with 81,933 followed by Bhiwani (17,207) and Sonepat (11,856). There are some districts such as Faridabad, Gurgaon and Mewat where only one ration card has been verified. In Hisar, Karnal and Yamunanagar, authorities have not started verification. In Palwal, seven ration cards have been verified, two in Rohtak and 32 in Panipat.

As per a letter (copy with The Tribune), then Additional Chief Secretary of the Food and Supplies Department had on October 31, 2014, directed district authorities to start digitisation and verification of ration cards. A committee headed by the deputy commissioner was formed in each district with the District Food and Suppliers Controller as member-secretary and district informatics officer as its member. The department prepared a special detailed format to digitise ration cards.

Jind has completed digitisation of around 1,60,629 ration cards, Faridabad (1,58,277), Hisar (1,06,151), Mewat (1,10,057), Rohtak (95,751), Sirsa (54,270), Rewari (75,144), Palwal (80,848), Ambala (69,557), Bhiwani (1,16,737), Fatehabad (58,664), Gurgaon (55,257), Jhajjar (46,857), Kaithal (82,385), Karnal (84,859), Kurukshetra (62,310), Mahendragarh (53,325), Panckula (48,075) and Yamunanagar (85,218).

Jaipal Singh, Deputy Director, Food and Supplies Department, said lack of resources was hampering the project. “We will complete the project by January 31. It was to be completed by December 31, 2014, but we have been given time till March 31,” he said.