Aadhaar registration of FCS&CA beneficiaries mandatory from next month: Zulfkar Ali

SRINAGAR, JULY 03: Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA), and Information, Choudhary Zulfkar Ali, Monday said that the Government is mulling to make FCS&CA beneficiaries Aadhaar registration mandatory from next month to ensure that only deserving people receive various Government benefits.

The Minister said this while chairing a meeting here today to review the progress made on electronic Public Distribution System (ePDS). He said measures are afoot to not let anyone take undue benefits. He cautioned that those who fail to provide their Aadhaar details to the department by next month would not be provided with the food grains.

He said that FCS&CA beneficiaries by registering their Aadhaar details with the Department would help the department to make the system more transparent and weed out any irregularities. He appealed beneficiaries to come forward and register their Aadhaar details with the department so the benefits of Government schemes reach to the intending and deserving only. 

Directing the FCS&CA officers to expedite the registration of beneficiaries with their Aadhaar details, the Minister said the increment of all concerned Assistant Directors would depend on the success of registration process. He said everyone has to chip in with their efforts to make the process a success. He said aim should be to achieve cent percent Aadhaar seeding of ration cards.

The meeting was informed that out of around 28 lakh ration cards in the State, so far, 2634 ration cards have been seeded in the Kashmir division. Further, the Department has started online allocation of food grains, besides online File Tracking system was launched on the scheduled date of July1.

It was given out that the Department's ‘Command and Control Room’ would be inaugurated by next week, besides, the recruitment of Data Entry Operators by the Department would be completed by 15th of this month.

Appreciating the officers for achieving many milestones, the Minister said that the Department has to brace up with the latest technology in order to excel its efficiency. He said the credit for achieving these targets entirely goes to every member of the Department and the concerned agencies who tirelessly worked to ensure the results are achieved within stipulated time. He stressed upon the employees to not show any complacency and carry on with the good work.

Seeking update on the functioning of 'Grievance Redressal Portal', the Minister said the immediate redressal grievances from consumers and beneficiaries is the top priority of the Government. 

Secretary FCS&CA Shafiq Ahmad Raina, Special Secretary FCS&CA Peer Hafizulllah Shah, Director FCS&CA Kashmir Nissar Ahmad Wani  and other concerned officers were present in the meeting.