Over 77,000 yet to get ration cards

Hyderabad: If you are planning to apply for a Food Security Card (FSC) or ration card be prepared for a long wait as 77,866 applications are pending with the Civil Supplies Department. In all, 1.3 lakh had applied for FSC since 2017 out of which 77,866 are pending and 20,466 have been rejected.

According to official sources, in 2019, the department received 58,529 applications out of which 7,398 have been approved and 2,610 have been rejected, while the remaining 48,521 applications are pending for approval.

The FSC is meant for below poverty line (BPL) families, which helps them procure 6 kg rice per month per person at the rate of Rs 1 per kg. Currently, in Hyderabad district, 5.85 lakh beneficiary families are drawing their monthly commodities from 720 fair price shops (FPS).

B Bala Maya Devi, Chief Rationing Officer Hyderabad, says, "In order to clear the pending applications, the officers have been making several rounds to the addresses given in the application forms. But most people are either no longer living at the mentioned address or are out of the city, probably on vacation. We have tried to reach them by calling them on the contact numbers mentioned in application forms, but not many answered."

However, the applicants allege that their applications have been pending for years and there is no proper explanation. For instance, Asra Khatoon, a resident of Nampally, applied for a ration card in 2017, but till now there is no progress. She says, "When I visited the assistant supply office in Nampally, they said the website was down and they could not do anything until it was restored."

"The website is not functional for last couple of years but the MeeSeva centers are still taking applications. If you cannot clear pending applications why are you taking fresh applications," asks Ansar Syed, a social activist.

Explaining about the backlog of the applications on the website, Maya Devi said, "Our backend teams are constantly working on to clear the applicant traffic and make the website functioning again.