Rasulpur: Non-linking of Aadhaar cards with bank accounts has taken a heavy toll on deprived scores of people under this block of availing benefits under National Food Security Act (NFSA), as per a report.
More than 2,000 beneficiaries under this block have been deprived of NFSA rice from their dealers due to failure of linking Aadhaar cards with bank passbooks.
Public distribution system (PDS) dealers said that they have stopped supplying rice to the beneficiaries as per a government order. The problem arose after the government made it compulsory to seed the Aadhaar numbers of the beneficiaries with their bank passbooks.
The order has been issued by the state Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare department following which a large section of people, mostly elderly persons, has failed to get rice.
Moreover, the agencies that are in charge of rice distribution are openly asking the dealers to stop supplying rice to the beneficiaries who do not have Aadhaar cards or bank passbooks.
Residents said that the number of excluded beneficiaries might increase further as a majority of them does not have Aadhaar cards or bank passbooks.
This is in violation of norms as the rule mandates that no beneficiaries under the scheme should be deprived of getting rice. Earlier, the state government has filed an affidavit in the Orissa High Court promising not to deprive any beneficiary of rice for such reasons.
The rule also mandates inclusion of the names of all eligible people and rejection of the names of ineligibles. However, it is hardly followed as the website on food security has remained non-functional for long.
As a result, officials have failed to enlist the names of new beneficiaries in the scheme which is only defeating the aims and objectives of the scheme. According to 2011 census, there are over 36,000 families in Rasulpur block.
Among them, names of 1,23,653 persons of 31,772 families have been enlisted under the NFSA. Similarly, 15,286 persons belonging to 4,344 families are included in Antodaya Anna Yojana and 8,164 persons of 2,472 families are included under the state food security scheme.
However, now a total of 1, 47,103 from 44,280 families have been included under various food security schemes. The seeding of Aadhaar numbers with the passbooks of beneficiaries has given rise to the problem.
Block supply officials said that Aadhaar numbers of 31,504 families have been validated with their bank passbooks. At least 137 families including 39 under Antodaya Anna Yojana and 98 with priority household (PHH) ration cards do not have Aadhaar cards yet.
Taken together, over 2,500 families are yet to validate their Aadhaar numbers with their bank passbooks. The beneficiaries have lodged several complaints with the block development officer (BDO) and district level officials but to no avail.
Rasulpur block supply officer Tunarani Sahu said she would look into the issues but Aadhaar seeding is mandatory for availing rice under the schemes.
PNN