SAMBALPUR: Discrepancies in records of ration cardholders during the Aadhaar linking process has emerged as a cause of concern for beneficiaries in the district. The directive to link Aadhaar number with ration card was issued to ensure transparency in Public Distribution System (PDS). The linking process involves two steps - seeding and matching. Sources said while in the first step, Aadhar seeding of the majority of beneficiaries is done, a large number of discrepancies are detected during the second step of verification.
As per records of the district supplies department, 1,83,017 Below Poverty Line (BPL) families with around 6,52,485 members are registered as beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act in Sambalpur district. Besides, 28,684 families with 86,593 members are registered under Antyodaya Anna Yojna.
Out of the total, Aadhaar seeding of 1,79,797 families with around six lakh members is already over. However, during the second step of data matching, the majority of the beneficiaries faced the problem of data mismatch. Official sources said documents of only 5 per cent (around 35,000) of the total number of beneficiaries could be authenticated during the second step of verification and rest were rejected due to discrepancies in records.
While some of the mismatches are those of ghost or fraudulent cardholders, the others are a result of the wrong entry of data during Aadhar seeding. In some cases, the Aadhar cards are either forged or the same Aadhar numbers have been registered twice at different places. But in most other cases, the mismatch has occurred due to errors and omissions during data entry due to which the registrations of beneficiaries were rejected.
Now, these cardholders are being told there is no provision for rectification or re-applying for linkage. Meanwhile, with only three days left for Aadhar linkage, the rising number of mismatch has led to apprehension whether the process can be completed on time. The fear seems justified as the civil supplies department is facing server issues and shortage of data entry operators for nearly a week.
District Supply Officer Ranjan Seth admitted that most of the beneficiaries have been affected due to technical fault. He said the matter has already been notified to the State Government and a plan is being chalked out to re-verify the records so that genuine beneficiaries are not left out.
Seth said the process will be complex and time-consuming due to which the department is facing further delay in coming up with a plan. He said while the Government has set September 15 as the deadline, the Aadhaar seeding process will continue till the end of this month.