The State Government has decided to do away with biometric authentication at Public Distribution System (PDS) shops and allow distribution of ration through One Time Password (OTP) sent to the registered mobile numbers of beneficiaries in the wake of the unprecedented rise in cases of Covid-19 infection and the fear of possible transmission from PDS shops.
Issuing a letter in this regard to all the districts on Friday night, the State Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department’s additional secretary Shantanu Agrahari asked all PDS shops not to rely on biometric authentication until May 31 and provide ration to the beneficiaries through OTP sent to their registered mobile number once their ration card number is fed into an e slip.
The letter from the department categorically states that no beneficiary should be asked to use their thumb impression to authenticate biometric data at the PDS shops during this period.
“In case the OTP is not delivered to a beneficiary on time, then the concerned PDS dealer should provide ration to the registered beneficiary and enter details of the said beneficiary in the system manually,” the letter further stated.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren also took to Twitter to inform about the government’s decision. “In the wake of Covid-19 situation in the state, it has been decided that all PDS shops will provide ration to the beneficiaries sans biometric authentication,” he wrote in a Tweet.
While the state is already facing its worst ever wave of Covid-19 infection, crowding or use of thumb impression at PDS shops could lead to further transmission of the virus, government sources said. Since keeping hands sanitized is one of the protocols of Covid-appropriate behaviour, it would not be wise to ask for biometric authentication from the beneficiaries of PDS system, an official from the department said on Sunday.
The state has reported an unprecedented spike in Covid cases and casualties in the past couple of weeks. On an average, Jharkhand has been reporting around 5000 cases and more than 50 Covid deaths every. The state has enforced a lockdown to break the chain of infection, but the cases of Covid infection have continued to soar.
As per Government data, Jharkhand has about 58 lakh PDS beneficiaries who are covered under the National Food Security Act. This apart, the state government has provided ration cards to about 13 lakh more beneficiaries who were left out of the Act.