Govt chooses to go knocking on doors to give ₹1k dole when the city is a hotspot

Govt chooses to go knocking on doors to give ₹1k dole when the city is a hotspot

Komal.Gautham@timesgroup.com

Chennai:  21.06.2020

For five days from Monday, foot soldiers from the civil supplies department will knock on the doors of more than 1.8 million homes in the Greater Chennai Corporation limits to distribute the Rs1,000 dole to each cardholder. Why do they and the beneficiaries have to run the risk of catching the Covid-19 infection when direct benefit transfer (DBT) would ensure the money is distributed electronically, which also ensures zero pilferage?

This is the second solatium being paid out this pandemic. The first effort in April saw crowds around ration shops. So why not use the DBT, built on the Aadhar platform to which all ration cards in the state are linked?

“There will be a rush to withdraw money from the banks. Also, we do not have bank account details of all the card holders. So, we decided on door-to-door delivery of cash,” said Sujjan Singh R Chavan, civil supplies and consumer protection commissioner. Use of DBT would definitely be considered, he added.

There are 2.08 lakh card holders across the state of whom 18 lakh are in Chennai, which has 1,800 PDS outlets.

Even larger cash payouts by the central government are done at the click of a button using Aadhar Bridge, a facility that UIDAI offers for cash transfer using Aadhar numbers.

Former Chennai mayor Ma Subramanian of the DMK sees a political motive behind the government insisting on physical distribution of the dole. He says the ration shop employees will be accompanied by AIADMK workers when they go to distribute the money.

“They are risking everyone’s life. The purpose of the lockdown will be defeated. The PDS employees will not be able to cover many households in a day. So they will call all the card holders in an area to a particular street to collect the money. They will not follow any social distancing and the risk of infection is high,” he alleged.

Many cardholders do not accept the cash dole, but they don’t inform the government. As a result, that money makes its way into someone else’s pocket. Zakir, a resident of Parrys, said he took the money last time and donated it to an NGO. V Kuppan, a retired public servant and resident of Adambakkam, said he collected the cash though he didn’t need it as otherwise it would be pilfered. “The government should revise the cardholders data and ensure that those who do not want free ration are omitted. I will collect the money as I am aware if I don’t, the employees will take it in my name,” he said.