The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : The simple way to get a ration card

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Saturday, Aug 16, 2008
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Kerala

Kerala - Kochi

The simple way to get a ration card

M. P. Praveen

KOCHI: Biju can vividly recall the day he finally got his ration card. “I had to run after it for months. Even now, on hearing about ration cards what comes to mind is my countless trips to the city rationing office and the peculiar smell of its interior,” he said.

Though his family had been settled in the city for decades, he never felt the need for a ration card. Not until he was asked to enclose a copy of the ration card to prove his identity for a job application.

From the time he applied for a card he was asked to give details of his previous card.

“I tried to convince them that we never had a card. They refused to accept it. Neither did they tell me what I was supposed to do to get a card,” Biju, who works at a sanitary appliances company, said. Finally one day, almost six months after he applied, he ran out of patience.

“I bribed a clerk in the rationing office for Rs.1,200. I received the card within a month,” he said.

However, T.K. Thankam, District Supply Officer, said the situation had changed since then. “Now the functioning of rationing offices is more transparent and new cards are issued within two weeks of receiving the application,” she said.

Applicants are told about the documents they are required to produce at their very first visit to save their time and to avoid delay, a rationing officer said.

This list of documents was also displayed on the notice board. Those applying for ration cards or to renew them should fill in an application form available for Rs 5 at supply offices. The application along with certificates proving one’s residential address and income should be submitted to the rationing office for the area concerned.

Reduction certificate (if the applicant’s name has been removed from a card at another household) and surrender certificate (if a family has surrendered its card at another place and was applying for one in a new place) issued by the supply offices concerned are also required.

Spot inquiry

Birth certificates are to be produced if the names of newborn babies are to be included in the ration card.

If the applicant never possessed a ration card and was applying for a new one, then his application must be endorsed by the MLA or MP or Mayor of the region concerned, the rationing officer said.

Once the documents are received, the rationing officer makes a spot inquiry to ensure that the details given were correct, Ms. Thankam said. Conducting the inquiry and issuing the card would take about two weeks, she said.

Meanwhile, the district supply office had completed on January 12 the year-long process for issuing photo-affixed ration cards. “The majority of the cardholders have been photographed. Issuing cards is getting delayed, as many local self-government bodies are yet to give lists of below poverty line and above poverty line cardholders,” Ms. Thankam said.

The majority of the 69,446 ration cardholders within Ernakulam city rationing office limits had been photographed and details handed over to Keltron, which is entrusted with printing the cards.

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