When the food and civil
supplies department invited fresh applications for ration cards on November 18,
they didn’t expect lakhs of responses. The reason could be that the department
had decided to issue applications after a gap of two years.
Another reason is perhaps because ration card serves as an identity proof for various transactions. The department has received applications from 4,74,192 families from Bangalore alone. In the state, in just 35 days, nearly 11 lakh
families have filed applications. “This response has made us aware of the importance of the ration card. We are yet to announce issuance of the ration cards. But based on the applications that we have got, we started physical verification of the applicants’ residential address and revenue register number of the electricity connection and supportive identity documents. There is no deadline as such for the bulk applications while issuing ration cards. We will gear up,’’ said M C Gangadhar, deputy director, food and civil supplies.
But online service has some glitches. For instance, 64-year-old Sathyanarayana Kotta was shocked when he was told that the ration card that he had used for the last 30 years was not valid. The department’s website reflected this.
Kotta was one among the many who was waiting for the issuance of the new ration cards for the last one year and was happy when the service for the ration card was made completely online. “I applied for one in the first week of December as my ration card was valid till December 2006. I tried to apply online for a new ration card in place of the existing one. The system indicated that the ‘old ration card number is not valid’,’’ he said.
When contacted, Gangadhar, deputy director of the department, said that in such a situation, many like Kotta want to know if they can freshly apply for the new ration card. “This is one of the cases of temporary ration cards that the department had issued only in Bangalore. In such cases the applicants will have to apply afresh if the card has expired. If the old ration card number is not found in the database, a remark can be made in the application giving the old ration card number,” said Gangadhar.
Another reason is perhaps because ration card serves as an identity proof for various transactions. The department has received applications from 4,74,192 families from Bangalore alone. In the state, in just 35 days, nearly 11 lakh
families have filed applications. “This response has made us aware of the importance of the ration card. We are yet to announce issuance of the ration cards. But based on the applications that we have got, we started physical verification of the applicants’ residential address and revenue register number of the electricity connection and supportive identity documents. There is no deadline as such for the bulk applications while issuing ration cards. We will gear up,’’ said M C Gangadhar, deputy director, food and civil supplies.
But online service has some glitches. For instance, 64-year-old Sathyanarayana Kotta was shocked when he was told that the ration card that he had used for the last 30 years was not valid. The department’s website reflected this.
Kotta was one among the many who was waiting for the issuance of the new ration cards for the last one year and was happy when the service for the ration card was made completely online. “I applied for one in the first week of December as my ration card was valid till December 2006. I tried to apply online for a new ration card in place of the existing one. The system indicated that the ‘old ration card number is not valid’,’’ he said.
When contacted, Gangadhar, deputy director of the department, said that in such a situation, many like Kotta want to know if they can freshly apply for the new ration card. “This is one of the cases of temporary ration cards that the department had issued only in Bangalore. In such cases the applicants will have to apply afresh if the card has expired. If the old ration card number is not found in the database, a remark can be made in the application giving the old ration card number,” said Gangadhar.
