Civil Supplies authorities have clarified that there is no deadline for linking Aadhaar numbers of the beneficiaries of the public distribution system (PDS) with the data of family (ration) cards, even as many cardholders are getting anxious about getting the task done.
Currently, all those having Aadhaar numbers are advised to furnish information to the staff at the respective fair price shops. “This is in the interests of the cardholders as we are planning to issue smart cards on a ‘first-come-first-served’ basis,” explains a senior official.
As a number of people still do not have Aadhaar numbers, the authorities see no point in fixing a time-frame for the linking of the Aadhaar numbers with the family cards. “Having Aadhaar number is no prerequisite to getting entitlements under the PDS,” the official adds.
As of now, the validity of the family cards lapses on December 31 this year. Once cleared by the government, the distribution of smart cards will take place in the second half of December.
Cardholders who do not get their Aadhaar numbers by December-end would be given more time to acquire the numbers, the official says.
Even though cardholders themselves can do the seeding by uploading a mobile application (TNEPDS) or through the official website on PDS (https://tnpds.com), a number of them prefer to go to their fair price shops. In respect of some cardholders, the experience has not been that pleasant. “There have been complaints of the field staff asking them to visit the shops more than once,” says T. Sadagopan, president of the Tamil Nadu Progressive Consumer Centre, adding that there are also instances of the officials not taking into account those whose names are included in the family cards after 2005.
The Civil Supplies Department should also inform people, through its field staff, that no time-frame has been set for the seeding. The cardholders should not be made to run from pillar to post for completing the process, the consumer activist adds. Another senior official in the department says instructions have been issued to the staff to carry out the process in a hassle-free manner. There is no advice to the field staff to leave out any person, whose name has been included in the family cards.
