Snags in biometric authentication hit public distribution of rations; people aghast
Srinagar: Ration cardholders in several parts of the city Tuesday complained that they have not been able to procure their monthly quota of food-grains from ration depots due to the snags in authentication of their biometric markers.
Ration distribution at several depots in the city and towns was affected due to such snags.
Ghulam Nabi, a senior citizen, told ‘Kashmir Images’ that he had not been able to procure ration for two months due to the biometric authentication failure.
He appealed to the government to ease the process of procuring monthly ration for citizens by rectifying the errors and snags.
Mohammad Shafi, another rationee from Abiguzar area said that he frequently visited the nearby ration depot to get his biometric authentication done and was told to update his Adhaar Card after the scanner did not detect his fingerprints.
“Government should make the process easy for the citizens whose biometric authentication fails; I have not been able to procure ration for two months as my fingerprints do not match for some reason. I updated my Adhaar details as well, but nothing worked, so is the case with my wife. Now I appeal to the government to simplify the process so that people do not face inconvenience,” Ghulam Nabi said.
Similar complaints were received from other parts of the city with consumers, mostly senior citizens complaining that their monthly ration quota has not been released as the scanner does not detect their fingerprints.
Syeda Bano, a BPL cardholder from Khanyar, said that her biometric authentication fails time and again and that the supervisor at the depot asked her to update her Adhaar Card or bring some other family member, whose name is registered on the ration card to get her monthly ration quota.
“People are fed up with these hectic formalities; please let us live and don’t make our life difficult anymore. I am an illiterate woman, isn’t it unfair that I am asked to update my Adhaar to get my monthly share? Have pity on the poor…” she added.
When contacted, Director, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Abdul Salam told ‘Kashmir Images’ that the cardholders whose fingerprints do not match need not panic as any of the family members whose name is on the ration card can complete the process so that they get their monthly allocated share of rations.
