fficials of the Chief Rationing Office, Hyderabad district, seem to be caught in a fix, as the average number of Food Security Card (FSC) holders to be assigned per Fair Price Shop (FPS) is lesser than the number mentioned in the Food Security Act (FSA)!
The CRO has come up with an average of 950 cards to be assigned per outlet, which is lesser than the 1,000 to 1,200 to be assigned as per the FSA.
Work to rationalise or redistribute card holders to FPS outlets had started earlier this week by the CRO, after the Civil Supplies department issued a notification that FSC cards would be distributed soon. According to FSA rules, each outlet should have between 1,000 to 1,200 cards attached to it, and it must be located in a place which is not more than 3 km away from each beneficiary’s house.
“However, in Hyderabad district, each outlet can be assigned 950 card holders on an average, given the population distribution. In certain areas, the density of card holders is very high like in the old city, while in other places, it is less. So, we are trying to see what can be done to make sure that we follow the FSA’s rules,” mentioned a senior official from the CRO, requesting anonymity.
After enrolment some months ago, the CRO now has about 8.16 lakh card holders, in which about 27.2 lakh beneficiaries are enrolled to receive subsidised essential commodities under the FSA.
Currently, there about 859 FPS outlets, which the card holders go to, to avail of the foodgrains allotted to them every month. “We are planning to relocate some of the outlets, but whatever we do, it will be done amicably,” stated the official.
The official explained that getting to locate every FPS outlet within 3 km of its card holders’ location will not be easy in the city’s limits.
“It is easier to do that in local areas, but not urban areas, given the density of population,” the official pointed out.
Bogus cards
Prior to the Food Security Cards (FSC) being announced, the CRO had managed to weed out 72,531 ‘bogus’ white ration cards from more than six lakh cards, and had achieved 99.98 per cent seeding with the Aadhaar card database.
The work was taken up to ensure that the application for FSC was free of bogus applications. Also, information from Intensive Household Survey (IHS) was used to cross-check data, and in case an applicant’s details were not found, then an entry was made in the IHS database, said an official from the CRO’s office, declining to be identified.
The CRO has come up with an average of 950 cards to be assigned per outlet, which is less than the 1,000 to 1,200 to be assigned
