There was disquiet in the taluk office when a large number of ration cardholders, who had come for the revision of their cards, objected to the improper token system being followed here on Thursday.
People, who had been waiting for their turn for hours, became irate when tokens were distributed to some cardholders who had not been standing in queue; leading to a commotion that was only pacified upon police intervention. Many people from Udupi city and Udupi taluk had come to get names corrected, added and deleted in their ration cards.
This work is done on three computers at the taluk office of the Food and Civil Supplies Department. To manage the crowd, tokens are issued to them.
The ration cardholders, who spoke to The Hindu , vented their anger against what they called “endless waiting” and lack of a proper system for giving tokens.
Sunita Poojary, a resident of Perdoor village, said she had left home at 6 a.m. and reached the taluk office at 7.30 a.m. She was standing in the queue on an empty stomach. “I came to get the names of two of my family members included in the ration card. I’ve been standing for so long, my legs are hurting that is why I sat on the floor”, she said. An ENT specialist from Udupi Ammunje Jayakrishna Nayak said he had come at 9.20 a.m. He said earlier tokens with just the date printed on them were given out, but after a police intervention, tokens with numbers were distributed. He had come for to get the address in his ration card changed. “The crowd will be reduced if the corrections are carried out in the gram panchayat offices as well”, he said.
Ramdas Udupa, who had come from Handady to get the name of his daughter included in the ration card said: “Those who come first do not get tokens, those who come late get them. I have to stand in this long queue even though my leg hurts as I was bitten by a dog,” he said.
Tahsildar’s reaction
Udupi tahsildar Abhijin said that nearly 150 applications of ration cardholders were processed every day on just three computers. The office functioned from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and sometimes remained open till 8 p.m.
But the work got affected when server problems, poor internet connectivity, and power failures were experienced. “There are days when 180 applications have to be processed. Despite tough conditions our staff members try to do their best. Carrying out corrections is a continuing process, it will not stop; so people don’t need to rush to the office for corrections”, he said.
