Bhubaneswar, Feb 15 (PTI) The Odisha government once again extended the deadline for e-KYC (know your customer) verification of ration card holders from February 15 to March 31, Food Supplies Minister Krushna Chandra Patra said on Saturday.
This is the third time the state government has extended the time for e-KYC verification of the ration card holders.
The e-KYC verification process was supposed to end on December 31, last year.
Earlier, the government had extended the deadline to January 31, then till February 15, and now, the fresh deadline is March 31, 2025.
Speaking to reporters here, Patra said the extension was made considering the difficulties faced by the people due to the lack of internet services in the remote areas.
Efforts are underway to enhance the connectivity infrastructure with network devices set to be deployed at 341 locations throughout the state, he said.
Out of the total of 11,840 fair price shops or PDS points, 341 are operating offline, of which there is no network at 230 points, and the internet services are very slow at the remaining 111 locations, Patra pointed out.
He said that a total of 3.25 crore people are beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act (NFSA), and 6.48 lakh people have been covered under the State Food Security Scheme (SFSS).
Of the total of 3.32 crore PDS beneficiaries under both central and state schemes, more than 33 lakh people have not completed their e-KYC verification process, the minister said, adding that nearly 12 lakh e-KYCs are pending in remote locations. The government has extended the deadline across the state for the left-out people to complete the process.
The government’s e-KYC process requires Aadhaar-based biometric authentication for each family member through e-POS machines.
Every beneficiary under the public distribution system (PDS) will need to visit the nearest fair price shop for this, official sources said. PTI BBM SBN BBM SBN
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