Food Minister R. Kamaraj informed that there was no time limit to link Aadhaar number with ration cards and essentials would be given at fair price shops to those card holders who failed to link Aadhaar number with ration cards.
In Tamil Nadu there are 34686 ration shops under the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation. Essential commodities are being supplied to 2,03,64,386 ration cards in Tamil Nadu.
The family cards distributed in the year 2005 which is under usage now had expired in the year 2009. Every year additional slips are being pasted and renewed. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha had announced that in lieu of this old ration cards, smart cards would be introduced. The works connected with this was going on in rapid pace because the ration cards will expire this year. Hence details like Aadhar card numbers were collected from the ration card holders.
Point of sale machines are being installed in the ration shops. Ration cards are being linked with Aadhar cards. It was orally ordered to complete the entire process by October end because the central government has also been insisting to link Aadhar cards with ration cards.
As of now only 70 percent of the ration card holders have linked their Aadhar cards. At this juncture, there was news that essential commodities will not be given to the ration card holders who have not linked their Aadhar cards. The consumers were shocked but the food ministry has denied this.
Sources in the Food department said: It is mandatory to link ration cards with Aadhaar number. However, there is no time limit for this. Since Aadhaar number is necessary for issuing smart cards, people have to register.
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