'Commodities denied over failure to link ration card-bank account'

VELLORE: Kalaivani (name changed) of Thideer Nagar near the new Makkan fish market was bluntly refused the Rs 1,000 promised by the state government to women heads of families as she was yet to link her bank account with her smart ration card.

Revealing this to DT Next, she said, “the salesman told us to first complete this linkage. However, what officials fail to realise is that we who are daily wage earners cannot hope to maintain the minimum balance of Rs 2,000 as demanded by commercial banks when we earn less than a quarter of this amount daily.”

“The salesman refused to budge even after we pointed out that earlier cash was given in ration shops based on the smart cards of consumers,” she added.

“When we approached a commercial bank, the manager demanded to know why he should verify and sign all application forms when there was no assurance of any of them depositing big amounts,” she said.

She also said that the ration shop refused to provide her and those in her area with palm oil and dhal. “When we asked him the reason for this the salesman said we could buy oil outside once we received the Rs 1,000. He also added that palm oil was in short supply and hence this move.”

Enquiries with Vellore taluk supply officials revealed that of the 4.53 lakh cards in the Vellore district benefitting 14.85 lakh individual consumers, 30,000 consumers were yet to link their bank accounts with their Aadhar cards/ration cards from December last year.

“This is a constant irritation for us as we are pulled up at regular review meetings for this lapse and district officials demand to know why consumers are reluctant to link their bank accounts,” said a taluk supply official.

When this reporter pointed out the high minimum balance required, she said there was no need to approach commercial banks as cooperative banks would serve the purpose.

VCCB (Vellore central cooperative bank) chairman V Ramu said “minimum balance required by VCCB branches was only Rs.250 and anybody could apply.”

But the fact remains that the government should intervene to ensure that the poorer sections are not denied their benefits due to a lack of bank account linkage.

30,000 consumers were yet to link their bank accounts with Aadhar cards/ration cards from December last year, officials revealed