Officials prefer toll free number for plaints, as KMUT site collects personal info
Jayaraman of Chennai, who was the first to notice this, told DT Next, “When the website does not have any provision for applicants to appeal against the rejection of their bona fide applications, it does however, have a provision for one to lodge complaints,” with specific details.
Screengrab of KMUT webpage.
VELLORE: The State seeking personal information from complainants and that of ineligible persons benefitting from the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai scheme (KMUT) in the website kmut.tn.gov.in has raised many hackles.
Jayaraman of Chennai, who was the first to notice this, told DT Next, “When the website does not have any provision for applicants to appeal against the rejection of their bona fide applications, it does however, have a provision for one to lodge complaints,” with specific details.
The information to be uploaded includes the name, mobile number, and address (optional) of the complainant as also the name, mobile number, address, district, and taluk of the ineligible woman who have joined the scheme. Only the name of the revenue village and the ration shop concerned are optional here.
Next, it asks the complainant to provide within 500 words the reason for the complaint followed by the provision of ten boxes against various government-related criteria, which have to be marked. These include annual family income being more than Rs 2.50 lakh, government employee or earning government pension, inclusion of IT payee in the family, owning 4 wheeler, payment of GST for annual turnover of Rs 50 lakh, paying professional tax, elected representatives in the family and receipt of KMUT grant for 2 persons in the same family.
The complainant is then asked to upload documentary evidence if available. Once the above formalities are completed, the complainant gets an OTP, which once implemented the complaint is accepted.
“The above system will only lead to hostility between the complainant and the ineligible beneficiary and should be discontinued,” said Vellore Consumer Federation president K Sathiyamoorthy. “When the site cannot provide confidentiality how and why will anybody complain at all?” he demanded to know.
Asked about this, officials said, “We received complaints about those with land, houses, and government pensions being included in the scheme only prior to the scheme’s implementation.” Accepting that seeking documentary evidence would not encourage complaints, they suggested, “government can provide a toll free number which will automatically record complaints and route them to the district concerned.” This will work better as confidentiality is assured, they added.