Confusion reigns supreme among new ration card applicants

Confusion among public over new ration card application process as no government order has been issued yet.

Dozens of new ration card food security card applicants have been seeking information about how to file new applications, giving the staff of MeeSeva centres a tough time. This, when no Government Order (G.O.) has been issued detailing the process. The Congress, as a part of the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections, had promised issuing of ration cards to all eligible beneficiaries and make it a continuous process.

“There is confusion among the public as they are under the impression that applications will be accepted on December 28. I have been receiving queries on the new ration card application process from over 50 people every day, and sometimes the number is even more,” said Mohammed Ghouse Shareef, who runs a MeeSeva centre, and is an office-bearer of the Telangana MeeSeva Operators Association.

“We have to deal with large number of people and have to explain to them that no G.O. has been issued. Further, we do not know whether MeeSeva centres will be asked to take applications in the first place,” he said.

Another MeeSeva centre operator based in Toli Chowki narrated a similar situation. “There were news reports that December 28 is the date decided for acceptance of applications. I have been swarmed by applicants who come throughout the day to ask for the process. It is becoming tedious to explain to them that no further information from the State government has come to us,” the operator said.

Other operators said that even as they await clarity, the queries from a large number of people indicates that an overwhelming number of people are likely to apply for the new cards. They recalled the rush at the centres in the aftermath of the flooding in Hyderabad when affected persons had applied for the ₹10,000 relief.

For their part, officials of the Department of Civil Supplies said that the government has not released any order in connection with accepting applications. “Guidelines are being framed. After this a G.O. will be issued,” an official said.

Lakhs of ration cards were cancelled over the past few years. As a result, activists raised an alarm and demanded that the Congress government launch a probe into what they said was an arbitrary move and that the cancellation was done based on algorithms.