BHUBANESWAR: As the implementation of National Food Security Act (NFSA) has been delayed for more than a year, the State Government has decided to launch digitisation of ration cards of beneficiaries on a pilot basis for its smooth implementation from October.
Implementation of the NFSA was held up because of the delay in sharing of national population register (NPR) database based on 2011 census by the Registrar General of India (RGI) with the State Government.
The RGI has at last shared the database after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik took up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The database containing information on person’s name, address and other details will be used in verification and authentication of priority households.
Secretary in the Food Supply and Consumer Welfare Department Madhusudan Padhi told this paper that the process of digitisation of ration cards will be initiated on a pilot basis from October in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Bhubaneswar block on a pilot basis.
Padhi said the process will be launched in all urban local bodies (ULBs), remaining areas of Khurda district and district headquarters town in the second phase. Rest of the blocks will be covered in the third phase. The entire process will be over by July, 2015.
Nearly 200 centres will be opened in BMC and Bhubaneswar block areas to receive applications from priority households.
Each Ward in BMC will have minimum of two centres which may increase according to the population, Padhi said and added that each of 19 panchayats in Bhubaneswar block will have one centre. Padhi said the State Government notified the eight exclusion criteria on July 17. Income tax payee, persons having vehicles including two wheelers, business with TIN (tax payer identification number), households with electricity consumption of above 300 units per month, State or Central Government employee, persons having power tillers, fishing boats or other heavy vehicles and professional tax payees cannot apply to get benefit of the scheme. These criteria are set to delete all bogus ration card holders, all APLs and BPLs due to erroneous registration, Padhi said.
Padhi said applications from priority households will be verified before taking up digitisation of ration cards.