The State food and civil supply office has made it clear that the ration cardholders entitled to draw subsidised food items through public distribution system under the State food security scheme must submit their Aadhar Card numbers to the food and civil supply office of the districts they are from by March 31.
Speaking of the issue, Chamoli district magistrate Vinod Kumar Suman said that the cardholders must conform to the rule of submitting their Aadhar Card numbers to the district food and civil supply office by March 31 to continue availing the facility under the state food security scheme. The beneficiaries who have not submitted their Aadhar Card numbers so far should submit them at PDS shops or district food and civil supply office by March 31, he added.
Suman further said that the ration cardholders had been asked to submit their Aadhar Card numbers to the officials concerned through various means in the past. “However, a large section of them have not cared to act on the suggestion. Now, the process being made mandatory, those who would not conform would not be allowed to avail the facility,” he said.
He said that those whose annual income is less than Rs 5 lakh can submit their applications if they have no ration cards yet, mentioning their Aadhar Card numbers and bank account numbers at the departments concerned. Applicants would be provided new ration card on first come first served basis, he added.
He said that in Chamoli district, there are 84, 807 ration card holders out of which seeding works of 73, 782 ration cards have been completed. “While reviewing the scheme, a total of 4, 751 ration cards have been found to be fake in the district. They would be cancelled. Those who are still left out of the scheme despite satisfying the requisite criteria will be issued with new ration cards, he added.
In Dehradun district too, the district food and civil supply department has asked the card holders to conform to the norm of submitting their Aadhar Card numbers to continue availing the facilities accruable from the state food security scheme. Dehradun food and civil supply joint commissioner PS Pangti said that as many as 10.50 lakhs ration card holders have been covered under the state food security scheme with 84 per cent of them having submitted their Aadhar Card numbers to the department.