Over 83 per cent of beneficiaries in Mysuru district have linked their Aadhaar card with ration card, even as the State government has extended the deadline to May 31.
Earlier the government had set the May-15 deadline. Most cardholders in rural areas linked their cards, while those in urban areas, most of whom are APL (Above Poverty Level) cardholders, are indifferent to it.
K. Rameshwarappa, Deputy Director, Department of Food and Civil Supplies, told The Hindu that failing to comply with the deadline would result in suspension of cards and the beneficiaries would have to forfeit their entitlements to foodgrains under the public distribution system. “But it would be restored once the Aadhaar number is seeded with the ration card,” he added.
The State government had initiated the move to redesign the public distribution system to ensure a transparent and foolproof system of barcoded ration cards linked to Aadhaar cards. The chief aim of this initiative is to weed out bogus PDS beneficiaries. It also helps authorities collate information on the number of beneficiaries under different types of ration cards.
The government opted for Aadhaar cards for added security in the wake of increased scams and frauds in ration cards, and misuse of foodgrains being distributed under PDS.
There are two ways of linking Aadhaar card to ration cards: one being the online/offline method. Under the offline procedure, the cardholder has to submit the photocopies of the required documents i.e. their aadhaar card and ration card to the fair price shop. And under the online procedure, cardholders can visithttp://rasf.uidai.gov.in/seeding/User/ResidentselfSeedingpds.aspx. Cardholders can do so by sending an SMS to 9731979899.
Mr. Rameshwarappa said that beneficiaries of rural places may visit the gram panchayath offices to link their cards and people in urban places may have to visit KarnatakaOne or MysuruOne.
The department had succeeded in eliminating over 1,04,000 bogus cardholders.
