CHENNAI: In an effort to weed out bogus entries and plug leakages in the Public Distribution System (PDS), the Tamil Nadu Cooperation Department has directed officials across the State to submit complete details of deceased ration card beneficiaries, including their Aadhaar numbers, to facilitate their removal from the database.
The move comes as the State intensifies its drive to complete 100% eKYC verification of beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. Besides food materials at subsidised cost, this is also crucial for the State, as several welfare measures, including cash incentives, are distributed on the basis of this database.
In a circular issued by Additional Registrar K Tharpagaraj, officials were asked to furnish details of deceased beneficiaries linked to Priority Household (PHH) and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) family cards in a prescribed format.
The directive follows concerns raised by the Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Department after scrutiny of death lists received from various districts. According to the circular, several records were found to be incomplete, lacking crucial information such as family card numbers, names of deceased beneficiaries, and Aadhaar details. In some cases, names were recorded only in Tamil or were not fully entered in English.
It noted that names of deceased beneficiaries could be deleted from the PDS database only after their Aadhaar details were verified and matched.
Officials have therefore been instructed to collect accurate Aadhaar-linked information of deceased beneficiaries and submit the details in English for processing.
The exercise is expected to help the State, prevent diversion of subsidised food grains, and ensure that welfare benefits reach only eligible recipients.