Ration card registration centres go the 'extra mile'

Franchisees charge exorbitant fees for collecting bio-metric details in Blore

The bribery bug seems to have bitten the online registration for ration cards in the city.

This time the fleecing of applicants is not by any government agency, but by franchisees (photo bio service centres), which have been entrusted with the task of taking photographs and collecting fingerprint and other bio-metric details of the ration card seekers.  

The official website (www.ahara.kar.nic.in) of the Department of Food, Civil Supply and Consumer Affairs says the fee for taking the photographs and bio-metric details has been fixed at Rs 20 for upto four members of a family and Rs 5 for each additional member.
A reality check by Deccan Herald showed that these centres, mostly cyber cafes, were taking the applicants for a ride.

In some centres, the card seekers are being charged Rs 50 to Rs 100, irrespective of the number of family members. Rashmi Prakash, a resident of Chandra Layout (Bangalore West) was forced to pay Rs 50 when she went to give bio-metric details at the photo centre, even though there are only two members in her family.

“When I told them about the fee fixed by the department, the cyber cafe owner said they are collecting a higher fee because they have to pay more to the government,” said Rashmi. Other residents of the area faced similar problems. They too had to pay “extra” to ensure that biometric details are taken properly.

The operator at a service centre on Kaggadasapura main road (Bangalore East) said they were collecting Rs 10 per person to record biometric details, irrespective of what the department had prescribed.

Dhanush K, a resident of the area, said some people had paid Rs 100, even though the number of family members was limited to four.

A service centre in Yeshwantpur (Bangalore North) is charging Rs 30 as minimum fee. Another centre in Ejipura (Bangalore South) is collecting Rs 10 for each additional member of the family with a size more than four.

M C Gangadhar, Deputy Director (Procurement and Distribution) of the Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs told Deccan Herald that the deputy directors of the respective zones had been made responsible for the irregularities at the service centres in their jurisdiction.

The public may lodge complaints with the deputy directors. The list of the service centres under each zone is available on the department website as well as at the nearest ration shops, he said.

Gangadhar said if the service centre owners were found guilty, the password given to them would be immediately disabled and another service centre would be selected.
The food department has identified 160 service centres in the city.

There are a total of 765 such service centres across the State, including those in the jurisdiction of select gram panchayats, taluk offices and offices of the deputy directors of the department for recording bio-metric details.

As many as 31 lakh people from across the State, including seven lakh from Bangalore, have applied for new ration cards and bio-metric details will be collected before delivery of the cards.