Countless people have obtained their ration cards by paying a fee of Rs. 60. Two months ago, the state government issued an advertisement in several leading newspapers stating that the data on cards issued before December 2010 have been destroyed and that the public who have such cards should again pay a fee of Rs. 50 and get their fingerprints taken again.
So the public is being penalized Rs. 50 for a mistake committed by the government. But it does not stop there. People who have gone to get their biometric data taken again have a whole list of complaints. First of all, they have to take all their family members along and the biometric data of all are being recorded again. Secondly, they have to take a witness who has a valid ration card (i.e., he has a card issued after December 2010 or he has gone throught this tedious procedure to get it revalidated) and this witness has to have his biometric data taken and matched with the data stored in the computer. If they do not match, a new witness has to be found. The witness has bring his Aadhaar card and the latest electric bill. If the queues are too long and if there is a power outage, the applicants are asked to come back the next day again with whole family and the witness. Where do we find witnesses who meet all these criteria and who are willing to waste a couple of days for someone else? We can not even have professional witnesses, since they have restricted persons to act as witness for only two others. The deadline for resubmission of biometric data was 31-3-13, but was extended because of elections. It is not clear what the new deadline is and people yet to revalidate their cards are in a state of high anxiety.
Why is the government yhus harassing people, that too mostly poor people?
G.L.Nagaraj Urs, Mysore Grahakara Parishat