Lucknow: An internal probe by the Uttar Pradesh government has unearthed a massive scam wherein Aadhaar data was being misused to siphon off ration meant for the poor.
The investigation, ordered by food commissioner Alok Kumar, revealed that officials and middlemen appropriated ration at PDS shops in 43 districts where Point of Sale (POS) machines were being used.
As many as 859 Aadhaar cards were reportedly used 1.80 lakh times, with some cards being used 2,000 times, to carry out the fraud. Technical operators allegedly used Aadhaar numbers of original beneficiaries to match fingerprints of someone else to claim the subsidised ration.
As per a note sent by Alok Kumar, "PoS machines are used for ration distribution with the help of biometric data authentication. We have come to know that Aadhaar data was fudged in order to bypass biometric authentication. After the authentication is done, the original data was restored. The government has sought strict action against technicians, database operators and PDS distributors who were involved in the process."
As per the investigation, most frauds were committed in Allahabad where 107 Aadhaar cards were used 37,574 times. This was followed by Meerut where 108 cards were used 27,324 times. In Muzaffarnagar, 64 cards were used 19,795 times, while in Ghaziabad 69 cards were used 16,058 times.
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