
HYDERABAD: Despite the state government’s recent move to issue new ration cards, the absence of a clear window and a timeframe for submitting fresh applications has left many people high and dry.
The process, which is crucial for poor people relying on subsidised food and essential supplies, lacks clarity and transparency for issuance of new food security cards (ration cards).
According to sources, the government has reportedly compiled a list of potential beneficiaries based on the data collected from Samagra Intinti Kutumba Survey (comprehensive social-economic educational employment political, and caste survey), which is popularly known as Kulaganana (caste survey).
During Kulaganana, the government has collected the data on the status of any given household having ration cards or not. While the young families are seeking ration cards, the government is learnt to have identified only those who were not previously a beneficiary of the food security scheme.
“After compiling the Kulaganana data, the government prepared a list of people who have mentioned that they don’t have a ration card, duly giving Aadhaar card details, during the survey. Now, the government has sent these details to the district authorities to verify the claims,” said a District Civil Supplies Officer, on the condition of anonymity.
Many deserving low-income families are anxious as their names are not in the list sent by the Civil Supplies department to the district collectors, due to the approach adopted by the government.
Notably, the Congress government invited applications for its flagship six guarantee schemes, soon after it came to power. Although the Praja Palana applications do not have any details to apply for new ration cards, the government claimed that they would evaluate the data provided and issue fresh cards. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy himself informed the media on multiple occasions about this.
According to sources, the government has figured out that around 10 lakh families opted for new ration cards as per the data provided in Praja Palana applications. In a city like Hyderabad, which has over one crore population, the Civil Supplies department identified just over 83,000 applications to be verified. In Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy’s native district, the government identified around 27,000 applications. These figures essentially reveal that the Praja Palana applications were not considered.
When TNIE raised these concerns with a Civil Supplies officer, he said that they would send the ground level feedback and concerns to the state government.
During the BRS regime, the state government accepted applications through MeeSeva. However, the service was discontinued, due to the reasons best known to the then government. The citizens are demanding that the government should bring a dedicated online platform to submit applications.