KOCHI: Contrary to the Chief Minister’s assurance that ration cards will be issued within a day, the number of pending applications in the district are going to an all-time high. As many as 400 applications are pending in Ernakulam alone, said officials, who are in a hurried attempt to clear the backlog. In the city the number of people who have registered complaints to the District Supply Offices is more than 400. Presently, there is a pending delay of 471 ration cards. Among that 272 are from the Kannayannur Taluk alone.District Supply Office Superintendent K G Roy said, “We have received a lot of complaints in the past two weeks. The process of issuing ration cards within hours is impractical because of the restraints we are faced with. In order to meet the 100-day demand, we were forced to work overtime. No extra staff were deployed for the job. The maximum number of cards that can be issued a day is only 50-60 cards. And we don’t have the sufficient staff or the computer facilities, to provide fast services.” For issuing cards, a long process is involved. Another official said, “Apart from the ration cards, the necessary certificates are also issued from the same computer and many a times people don’t bring all the necessary papers.”It is also being alleged that malpractice among the public and local authorities have become rampant. “In order to get cards fast, false certificates are being produced and we are forced to cancel them and in the process, people who deserve the ration cards are at the receiving end,” he added.
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