Gove move to keep touts out of digital card game

Hyderabad: The government is taking strict measures to prevent exploitation of people by the middlemen in the issuance of family digital cards. Following the complaints of selling fake applications in some villages and towns, the Civil Supplies Department launched a special drive to keep under vigil the distribution of these fake applications.

According to sources, with the State government launching the pilot project earlier this month in all the 119 Assembly constituencies, the rumours began spreading, citing authorities were accepting applications for digital cards. Further, this would not only cover PDS but also several other schemes through one single card. In view of this, some agents began selling the fake application card to make some quick bugs. Interestingly, the Telugu application with the government logo and Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s picture started circulating in social media apps, including Whatsapp. The columns printed in the application were the replication of the Prajapalana applications, which were received earlier this year.

In view of the development, the Civil Supplies Department officials jumped into action and decided to launch a drive to contain the situation. “It is informed that no application has been designed nor released by the Civil Supplies Department for applying for a Family Digital Card,” said Civil Supplies Commissioner DS Chauhan.

In all the 119 constituencies (one village and one municipality ward), the pilot project was undertaken. Within GHMC limits in all 24 Assembly constituencies, a colony or locality was identified as part of the process. The authorities completed the four-day process of receiving applications by October 7.

To oversee the exercise at each of the Assembly constituencies, RDO and Zonal Commissioners were allocated the work of this survey. Each team of three to four government officers led by MPDO and MRO rank officers took the details of around 30 to 40 families from each locality, by visiting the houses. On October 9, these applications were sent for scrutiny. The report will be submitted to the government by officials on October 10.

The pilot project on Telangana’s Family Digital Card is part of the ‘one State one card’ policy and it was launched by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on October 3. This exercise is aimed at identifying the families across the State. The family digital card will have a woman as the Head of the Family (HoF). Family ID will be provided to all the families, irrespective of their economic status, after completion of the process, officials informed.