The household supply – ration, food security, annapurna, antyodaya – cardholders in the State would get the supply of commodities allotted to them with the help of IRIS or mobile OTP authentication from February 1, instead of biometric system that has been in practice so far due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to officials of the Civil Supplies Department, all the cardholders should get their Aadhaar cards linked with their mobile phone numbers so that they could get OTP to get the allotted commodities issued. The decision has been taken following the direction of the High Court - issued in response to a petition filed against the use of biometric system during the pandemic situation - stating that it could help spread the virus.
In Hyderabad and the erstwhile Rangareddy districts, the ration cardholders would get their allotted commodities only with the help of OTP generated through their mobile phone linked to the Aadhaar card as the IRIS verification facility is not available there.
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From Feb. 1
In a statement, Chief Rationing Officer of Hyderabad B. Bala Maya Devi said commodities would be issued only with the help of mobile OTP authentication in all the 670 fair price shops in Hyderabad from February 1.
She also suggested all the cardholders whose Aadhaar cards are not linked to their mobile phone numbers to get them linked to get the commodities issued.
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As on January 23, there are 87,44,251 ration cards in the State covering a population of 2,79,39,937. In Hyderabad, the number of cards is 5,80,680.
In Rangareddy it is 5,24,656; in Medchal-Malkajgiri it is 4,94,881; in Vikarabad 2,34,940. The three districts have areas of erstwhile Rangareddy district.