BHUBANESWAR: The state government has failed to activate the ration card management system (RCMS) in its e-Bitaran portal despite announcement by Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare minister Krushna Chandra Patra.
With over six lakh applicants waiting for new ration cards under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), Patra on Friday had said that the online portal will be operational from March 1 for entry of the pending applications.
“We came to know about the activation of the portal from media but there has been no official communication from the government. Officials in charge of RCMS are unable to log into the portal as the system has not been activated,” said civil supplies officers (CSOs) of several districts.
According to one of the CSOs, applications received at district level for issue of new ration cards have been verified by marketing inspectors (MI) and supply inspectors(SI). After verification, reports are submitted to respective BDOs in case of block or executive officer (EO) in case of urban local bodies.
The BDOs/EOs are the competent authorities to approve either new ration card or incorporate the changes, or reject the application. In case of approval of new ration card or modification therein, the RCMS in charge will digitise the requisite information as per the case and generate an acknowledgement slip and handover the same to the MI or SI concerned, the officer said. “We have sorted out the applications and those eligible for new ration cards have been digitised,” he said.