VIRUDHUNAGAR: Elderly beneficiaries seated on steps, customers pacing impatiently and ration cardholders shielding themselves from the heat as they await their turn - this has become a common scene outside many PDS shops in several districts ever since the fingerprint match threshold for biometric authentication was revised from 40% to 90%.
The new rule, implemented last month to improve authenticity, has left cardholders, particularly the elderly, struggling with longer queues and repeated verification failures.
“There’s chaos. Each person waits for at least 30 minutes for verification and even then, the fingerprint often doesn’t match,” said S Balasubramanian (74), a resident of Soolakarai in Virudhunagar district. “The salesperson suggested using my wife’s fingerprint, but she’s 72 and unable to walk to the outlet,” he said.
According to officials, the district has 6,13,349 PDS cardholders who purchase essentials from 1,041 shops. K Jayakumar, councillor of Ward 24 in Virudhunagar municipality, said the PDS outlet in Fathima Nagar serves more than 1,000 customers, most of whom are facing difficulty under the new system. “Even my fingerprints and iris scans failed to register,” he said.
A salesman at a PDS shop in Sivakasi said operations have slowed significantly since the rule came into effect. “Earlier, a 40% match was enough. Now, with the 90% requirement, each transaction takes longer. We have raised complaints, but the issue hasn’t been addressed,” he said. Another salesperson said the beneficiaries were advised to update their Aadhaar-linked fingerprints at enrolment centres. However, many said they are unable to travel or afford the update and have urged the state government to step in.
“Earlier, a cardholder’s entry took 2 to 3 minutes. Now it takes 8 to 10 minutes. For PCH cards, fingerprints must be scanned twice, causing further delay,” a supervisor in Pollachi taluk, Coimbatore, said.
T Sakthivel (48), a resident of Woraiyur in Tiruchy, said the Point of Sale (PoS) device failed to detect his fingerprint several times. “This happens often. The salespersons say it’s a technical issue,” he said.
Responding to concerns, officials from the food and civil supplies department said the 90% threshold aims to prevent misuse. As per government instructions, field inspections were conducted at PDS outlets across districts, including Virudhunagar.
Kalimuthu, a district supply officer (in-charge), said sales staff and the public need to be guided on how to use the fingerprint scanner. “With adequate training these issues can be resolved.”
D Mohan, commissioner of civil supplies and consumer protection department, said 90% of the fingerprint verification threshold was implemented nationwide by UIDAI.
“Currently, fingerprint verification delays are rare. In case of failure, the public can be assisted through iris scanning,” he said.
(With inputs from D Vincent Arockiaraj @ Tiruchy and M Saravanan @ Coimbatore)