Thiruvananthapuram: New ration cards will be ready for distribution within two months, according to food and civil supplies minister P Thilothaman.
Five-and-a-half lakh applications have already been received by supply offices. Online applications began from Wednesday. Initially, residents of Thiruvananthapuram North and Chirayinkeezhu will be able to apply online. By the end of this month, online applications can be submitted from all the taluks at www.civilsupplieskerala.gov.in.
Consumers can apply online directly. If it doesn't work, they can apply through Akshaya Kendras. Those applying for new cards should pay Rs 50 to the Akshaya Kendra.
The Akshaya Kendra charge for services like transferring members to another taluk, surrendering the ration card, change in ownership-address, change in ration shop and duplicate ration card is Rs 35. Consumers can also download the app 'ente ration kada' from Google Play Store to submit their applications.
While applying online, there is no need to upload birth/death and other certificates. Consumers need to provide only relevant information from those certificates. Since ration card online has been linked with other government departments, officials will be able to check the details of certificates.
No deadline has been set for applying for the ration card and other services. The stipulation that the original owner will have to permit others to apply for a new card has been scrapped. Since ration is the right of every individual, anybody can transfer their name to another card.
Once all current applicants are distributed their cards, new applicants they will get their cards on the same day itself, said the minister. The minister handed over the username and password for Akshaya Kendras to IT secretary M Shivshankar. The first person to apply for a card online, State Informatics officer K Mohandas, received his ration card from food secretary Mini Antony.
