Technical glitch stalls mustering exercise for ration card holders

A technical glitch stalled the mustering process for ration card holders in the State on Friday.

The Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs department had suspended ration supply for three days commencing Friday to enable priority ration card holders to update their eKYC details by monthend as mandated by the Centre.

Special camps

Special camps have been arranged in libraries, anganwadis, cultural centres and other facilities from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the purpose.

However, the snag caused by the server of the State IT Mission resulted in only 1,82,116 card holders completing the mustering exercise.

The technical error reported by several ration outlets prompted the department to confine the process to Antyodaya Anna Yojana (yellow) ration cardholders alone to decongest the server.

While such measures addressed the problem to a certain extent, the server went down time and again, much to the chagrin of the beneficiaries who had to wait for long hours under the sweltering sun.

Dealers attacked

Ration dealers also complained of having come under attack by unruly persons in various parts of the State. In Pathanamthitta, a dealer suffered head injuries after being assaulted using a beer bottle following an argument over the mustering process.

Food and Civil Supplies Minister G.R. Anil said arrangements had been made to utilise the Authentication User Agency (AUA) services of the National Informatics Centre as standby to ensure unhindered operations even if those provided by the State IT Mission fail to function.

He also announced that mustering will be conducted for yellow ration card holders alone on Saturday and Sunday.

Ration dealers have also been instructed not to distribute ration to beneficiaries except yellow ration card holders.

Supply officers will visit bedridden patients and others who are unable to attend camps to help them update eKYC.

Mr. Anil said a failure to complete the exercise on time could adversely affect the State’s ration allocation next month.

THULASI KAKKAT Women waiting at a ration shop in Petta, Thripunithura, to complete their mustering process on Friday.