Online PDS lapses cause delay, frustrate users

Chennai: Six months after the Tamil Nadu Public Distributive System (TNPDS) announced a mobile application and an official website to make corrections online, card users complain of multiple lapses in the newly created procedure.

The Android mobile application (TNEPDS) and the website PDS (https://tnpds.com) are still following many procedures that were incorporated during the manual system to avoid fake cards.

The lack of explanations in the columns provided by the website is delaying the whole procedure, which is causing inconvenience to both the card users and the dealers.

Despite mandating the seeding of Aadhaar cards with the ration cards (which have now turned smart), the TNPDS is demanding a deletion or a surrender certificate from the old cards.

The application of N Subramanian, a resident of Periyar Street, who wanted to add his 29-year-old in the smart card, was rejected on the grounds that he had not submitted the deletion certificate from the old station.

Taking a dig at the department, RTI Activist V Gopalakrishnan told Deccan Chronicle, “What is the need of a deletion certificate when the officials could use Aadhaar cards? They are aware of the fact that an Aadhaar card cannot be linked more than once in the smart card.”

Confusion prevails among the consumers, as the website has no proper information. While it accepts any of the supporting documents — Adoption Certificate, Bank Statement, Electricity Board bill, Aadhaar Card and Birth Certificate — for the corrections, many of the applications are rejected on the basis of non-submittal of a particular document.

 “I had submitted an Aadhaar card to add my 6-year-old son in the smart card. Though the provision of submitting a birth certificate is mandatory for kids in the age group of 0-5 years, my application is rejected for not submitting a birth certificate,” said Mohana Ramaswamy, a consumer. “The irony is that no columns specify the birth certificate for the application,” he added. What agitates the consumers is the fact that the rejection status is known only after a week.

Need for comprehensive procedure felt
Consumers and dealers feel that the TNPDS should incorporate a comprehensive system to facilitate the cardholders in the online system.
“Unwilling to offer any help, as they always blame it on the slow Internets, the officials at the civil supplies shoo us away to browsing centres. We spend over Rs 100 for each sit up and when it repeats, it is an extra expenditure,” said Kavi Kumar, a cardholder, who has been trying to add his wife’s name in the card since a month now.

Activists feel that the PDS officials should deploy enough manpower to cater to the online services. “Though ration card users are comparatively lesser than Aadhaar card holders, the government should not hesitate to provide free service to improve it in the digital platform,” added Gopalakrishnan. When an official from the civil supplies department was contacted, he assured that the department would clear the lapses at the earliest.