Abdul Hameed, a senior citizen from Kudroli, and his four family members were at the service centre for ration cards at Alake for a whole day last week to provide biometric impressions. On Thursday, he came to the Food and Civil Supplies Office to submit the acknowledgement he received at the Alake centre.
A simple act, you may think. But Mr. Hameed has to come another day. After waiting in the queue for nearly half-an-hour, an official told him to come at 10 a.m. the next day.
He was not happy with the response. “There is no sign displayed about the timing for submission (of the acknowledgement).” Mr. Hameed was at the office at 2 p.m. to submit the acknowledgement of his application at 3 p.m. “I have already spent two days now. I have no other choice but to waste another day tomorrow,” he said, before leaving the office.
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P.S. Hegde, a resident of Derebail Konchady, was visiting the office for the second time. Mr. Hegde spent the whole of Wednesday to change his ration shop in Aakash Bhavan to the one near his house. On Thursday, he was at a service centre in Hampankatta till 3 p.m. for correction of his wife’s name. Having finished the formalities at the service centre, he was in the queue at the department’s office, waiting to hear from the official. He wished he could get all his work done with just one visit to the office.
Ones like Naveen from Ullal, too, said he was also being made to wait for correction of his ration card. He did not have the information as to when to submit the acknowledgement and where. He was also asked to come the next day along with the ration card. More people were waiting for their turn to get clarity on the status of their application. Only a few were lucky to get their ration cards corrected on Thursday.
Deputy Director of Food and Civil Supplies C.S. Sharanabasappa said those with ration cards issued before 2010 — the system has lost the biometric impressions obtained earlier — need not come to the office to submit the acknowledgement. They only need to submit biometric details at the service centre. Those seeking correction of names or other amendments, however, should submit their acknowledgement along with related documents at his office. The new applicants have to submit all the necessary documents at the service centre. “They can come when they receive an SMS,” he said.
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As many as 44 service centres have been set up in Dakshina Kannada, of which 31 are in Mangalore, Mulky and Moodbidri. As on Thursday, nearly 2,100 applications have been filed seeking ration cards. The office of the Deputy Director has cleared 1,860 applications, he said.