Door-to-door drive for Aadhaar seeding of ration cards to start from July 1

KOLKATA: Webel Technology Ltd (WTL), which has been engaged by the state Food and Supplies department for Aadhaar-seeding and biometric authentication of ration cards, will start work by going door-to-door from July 1.

Secretary of the Food and Supplies department Parwez Ahmad Siddiqui held a video conference with the District Magistrates on Monday and asked them to take measures for extending full support and cooperation to the team of WTL.

The DMs will also monitor the entire process and shall pass on the information right up to the BDO level for hassle-free execution of the work.

"The District Magistrates will also see to it that the Bangla Sahayata Kendras can also carry out this exercise of Aadhaar seeding with mobile number," a senior official of state Food and Supplies department said.

As per estimates of the Food department, at least 5.5 crore people will come under the purview of Aadhaar-seeding and biometric authentication against ration cards. About 40 per cent of the beneficiaries have been covered already.

"It will bring more transparency to the public distribution system and ensure delivery of ration to the eligible beneficiaries. It will also help us in weeding out bogus ration cards," state Food & Supplies minister Rathin Ghosh said.

As per directions, house-to-house visits will be conducted twice and then locality wise-camps will be held after proper intimidation to the beneficiaries.

The camps can be arranged in schools or ICDS centres through coordination with the local BDO or Panchayat. The target set for completing the entire process is two months.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed that all states must implement 'One Nation One Ration Card' by July 31 to ensure that the migrant workers face no difficulty in lifting their ration from any part of the country.