Civil supplies officials blame it on Aadhaar information for goof-ups in smart cards

Vijayasekar got his smart card three months ago from the fair price shops located at Phase III. But he was shocked when he found that his name VijayasekarBoopal being mentioned as Vijayakumar Boopal. Not only that, his wife’s name was mentioned as Divya Rani Kannan when her real name is just Vanishree. His daughter Shruthi’s name was changed to Shashuda Kannan, while his son Surya became Jayadeve Kannan. 

Annoyed Vijayasekar went to the ration shop where the salesman told him to contact the DSO (District Supply Officer). When he approached the office three months ago, he was told to “come after two months as by then we expect the issue to be resolved.”

When he approached the office recently, he was told that his Aadhaar card was the reason for the mistakes occurring in the ration card as Aadhaar details were lifted directly onto the smart card. Officials were thus shocked when Vijayasekar revealed that the Aadhaar cards of his family members had all correct details. 

He was asked to come again after some time ensuring that all Aadhaar details were correct. While he had to change his address in the card too as he had changed his residence in the meantime, he still does not understand the discrepancies in the names. 

Asked about this, civil supplies officials said, “Problems arise when names on the Aadhaar card, which are in English are translated into Tamil. If Aadhaar cards had names in Tamil there would have been no problem, but when English characters are translated it results in such goof ups. We are now looking into this issue.” 

They added, “This was also the reason why the issue of Smart cards to consumers was delayed.”