10L duplicate ration cards eliminated by Aadhaar

Chennai: TIMES NEWS NETWORK





The state government has eliminated about 10 lakh duplicate family (ration) cards after seeding of Aadhaar numbers in the database of beneficiaries for the distribution of smart cards. This means, some 1.4 crore names have been eliminated.

The seeding of Aadhaar number is done to distribute smart cards, an initiative launched by the previous AIADMK governments to replace the existing paper based family cards. The cards are in circulation since 2005 and the cards due for renewal in 2009. “The door-to-door verification of family cards in the last five years helped eliminate 5.45 lakh duplicate cards,“ food and civil supplies minister, R Kamaraj said. About 1.02 crore families have got smart cards.

The government launched smart cards at a cost of `330 crore.