To find and keep records of genuine beneficiaries, the State Government has given priority on linking of Aaadhar cards to different schemes.

On Saturday, the Government said farmers would have to mandatorily submit Aadhar card numbers to avail loans from banks and extended the deadline for linking Aadhaar card to the ration card under the Public Distribution System (PDS) for 15 days from August 31 to September 15.

While the Registrar of Cooperative Societies directed the cooperative banks not to sanction crop loan to farmers without Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) number, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare and Cooperation Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain informed about extension of time limit for Aadhaar card-ration card linking.

The rule for submitting Aadhaar card to avail farm loans is also applicable for all the nationalised banks, said official sources. As per the directive, the Aadhaar number verification is mandatory to prepare a database of farmers, who have been issued the Kisan Credit Card (KCC). Meanwhile, it has also been decided that the disbursement of crop loan process will continue till September 30. During the period, the officials have been directed to prepare farmer database by linking the Aadhaar number with Kisan Credit Card.

Notably, the Aadhaar number of 10,80,219 farmers holding the KCC out of 49,44,343 has been verified so far. The Government has set target to provide crop loan of Rs 7,500 crore to farmers in Kharif season this year.

Minister Swain said those who fail to link to Aadhaar card to ration card would not be able to avail ration itemes under the PDS from September 16.

The Government had earlier extended the deadline from July 31 to August 31 as over 34 lakh PDS beneficiaries had not done the mandatory linking.