The Department of Food, PDS and Consumer Affairs would conduct a social audit of DBT scheme for ration at  Ranchi before reaching to any conclusion. At the same time, the Department also admitted about some shortcomings in the cash for ration facility which is being run on pilot basis at the block.

“There are some areas where more work is to be done. We have reviewed for last five months and found that 83 per cent of the beneficiaries have taken their ration. There are 17 per cent who have either not been able to lift ration despite getting cash in their bank accounts or the entitlements have not come. The system has improved a lot since being rolled out. We would conduct a social audit in March and then the scheme would be evaluated,” said Minister Saryu Roy.

Following reports about hardship caused to the beneficiaries of Nagri, the Department on Tuesday called a review meeting where senior officials were present. The scheme since it was launched in Nagri in October last year is under fire from the civil society. Right to Food Campaign activists have objected to the DBT model citing a survey. It found reportedly that 97 per cent of the sample households had opposed the DBT pilot.

Nevertheless the Minister defended the idea behind the mode of ration delivery which has been initiated by the Centre in the pretext of pilferages. “As we understand, the time taken in getting subsidy withdrawn from banks is real worry. In some cases it takes more than one day. We are also working on some ideas like making PDS dealers as banking correspondent and making e-POS machines as ATM. The Department is open to every good suggestion from any quarter to improve the system,” added Roy.

Secretary of the Department Amitabh Kaushal, admitting to the situation, said that certain steps were being charted out to deal with the glitches. “Yes it is true that beneficiaries of Nagri are in inconvenience and problems are there in the system. There are issues about no SMS alert going to their mobile about DBT transfer, benefits getting credited to which bank account of a family member and so on. We are looking into the issue,” said the Secretary stressing that the ration cardholders are getting reimbursements which it is a matter of verification.

A social campaign working under the guidance of economist Jean Dreze and many rights activists has claimed that in January 2018, about 25 per cent of cardholders at Nagri did not receive the cash. “Even those who get money face many hurdles. Many households do not know which of their bank accounts is being credited with DBT money. They are often constrained to make multiple trips to the bank to find out if the money has come, as most of them do not receive SMS alerts. Some banks even disallow cardholders from withdrawing money, claiming that the amounts are too small,” says the fact finding report.

The group had held a padyatra from Nagri to Ranchi on February 26 demanding discontinuation of the DBT pilot which would also be supported by the left parties, Congress, JMM, JVM and several civil rights organisations.