EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Aug 19: The Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) has refused to share the details of new ration card holders of one panchayat of tehsil Arnia, added in the list of the department in the last five years. The information was sought by the applicant under Right to Information (RTI) Act but instead the Assistant Public Information Officer (APIO) Arnia in return gave a link of department’s website to get the information, which was actually not available there.
According to documents available, an RTI applicant Sikanderdeep of panchayat Treva of tehsil Arnia had sought information from PIO of FCS&CA under RTI Act. He had sought details of the ration card holders of panchayat Treva from year 2015 to 2020. The applicant had sought from the department to furnish the list of beneficiaries with proper name, parentage, address and name of village so that the beneficiaries could be easily traced out. He had also given a format according to which the information was sought.
The reply given by APIO Arnia, who is the Tehsil Supply Officer Bishnah, reads, “The information sought by you is not maintained by the office. Moreover the data of Ration card is digitalized and desired information of ration card is available at departmental portal (public domain) that jk.epds.nic.in/JK/login”
Speaking to Early Times, the RTI applicant said that when he visited the given website, the desired information was not available. “Whenever we went to TSO office and asked for making the Ration cards of the left of people of the village, the officer in turn informed that the ration cards have not been made by the department and the process is closed due to some unknown reasons”, Sikanderdeep said, adding that but in reality, ration cards of several people have been made by the same Tehsil Supply Office Arnia in the last few years.
“We know many people, whose ration cards have been made by the department in the year 2017, 2018, 2019 but there are many people, whose names were deleted from the list of department on the promise that separate ration cards would be made of all new families”, Sikanderdeep said, adding that but all these people have been running from pillar to post to get their new ration cards but all in vain.
He further said that to find out the truth they had sought the information from TSO but once again they hide the information and gave the website address on which the details of the ration card holder was given but not the year in which the ration cards have been made.
“For common masses ration cards are not been made by the officials but those holding close links to officers or the ration dealers have been getting their cards made anytime”, he said, adding that the making of ration cards has been done on pick and choose basis, which needs to be stop and all eligible people should be added in the list.
Criticizing the department, Sikanderdeep said that the lower rung officials have been hiding the information to mask their misdeeds of making ration cards on pick and choose basis.
TSO Arnia Ravinder Sharma said that the bifurcation of the ration cards has been stopped by the department for the last few years due to which new ration cards have not been made of any individual. |
