Odisha extends ration card eKYC deadline, plans door-to-door survey
BHUBANESWAR: With only two weeks left for verification of ration cards under electronic know your customer (eKYC) and more than 30 lakh beneficiaries still not completing the self-authentication, the state government has decided against cancelling the cards abruptly.
March 31 being the last date for eKYC verification, beneficiaries who have neither completed the process nor surrendered their ration cards will get another 15 days till April 15 as the government has decided to conduct a door-to-door survey to find out the status of such people.
“Around 30,00,734 lakh people are yet to complete their eKYC process. The exact number of beneficiaries who have not completed eKYC will be known after March 31. Another survey will be conducted to ascertain why they have not done their eKYC and a decision to eliminate ration cards covering such beneficiaries will be taken based on the findings. The survey will be completed by April 15,” Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare minister Krushna Chandra Patra told mediapersons here on Sunday.
Patra said no ration card will be cancelled abruptly without ascertaining the reason for not completing the eKYC verification. The minister had informed the Assembly on March 12 that names of around 3.92 lakh deceased ration card holders and 22,143 cards issued to ineligible persons benefitting nearly 84,000 family members have been removed.
After deleting ineligible ration cards, steps will be taken to allow eligible people covered under the state food security scheme (SFSS) to apply for free ration under National Food Security Act (NFSA). While a total of 3.25 crore people are enrolled under NFSA, 6.48 lakh people have been covered under SFSS taking the total beneficiaries to more that 3.32 crore.
Patra said the survey of 6.35 lakh individuals who had applied for new ration cards has been completed. Another 50,000 individuals have applied for new ration cards on the government portal opened recently. Verification of these applications will commence upon completion of the application process after which new ration card will be issued.