22 lakh Mumbaikars not getting food from ration shops due to Aadhaar compulsion: Nirupam
Only 32 out of 54 lakh beneficiaries are getting food from ration shops, Nirupam claimed (Representational Image, Courtesy: newsmarg.com)
Around 22 lakh eligible persons in the city are not getting access to food grains and other products sold at ‘Fair Price Shops’ as their ration cards are not linked to Aadhaar or due to glitches in linking, Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam has claimed.
“I have accessed rationing data of Mumbai from a government site, which shows that out of 54 lakh beneficiaries (ration card holders), only over 32 lakh are getting the ration from 4,200 Public Distribution System (PDS) shops,” he told reporters on Thursday.
“This is a clear violation of the Supreme Courts guidelines, which have instructed the government not to make Aadhaar-linking mandatory for distribution of goods from PDS shops,” the Congress leader said.
Out of 54 lacs beneficiaries under #PDS in Mumbai approx 22 lacs are being denied food grains from ration shops as #AadharCard is not linked with their ration cards.Mah Govt’s anti poor drive is in violation of Supreme Court order. Kindly withdraw this order CM @Dev_Fadnavis ji
— Sanjay Nirupam (@sanjaynirupam) April 19, 2018
Electronic Point of Sale machines at PDS shops do not function properly, which, coupled with slow 2G Internet connections which these shops have, led to a chaos, he said.
He also termed it a mockery of “Digital India”, a slogan adopted by the Union government.
People stand in queues for two to three hours and still return empty-handed because their thumb impressions do not match with Aadhaar data, the Congress leader alleged.
Some ration card-holders also narrated their personal experiences at the press conference.
Nirupam demanded that the requirement to link ration cards with Aadhaar should be suspended until the Supreme Court gives its verdict on the Constitutional validity of Aadhaar.
