Aadhaar linked e-KYC deadline for ration card beneficiaries extended till Dec 31

Bhubaneswar: The state govt on Sunday extended the deadline to complete e-KYC for PDS beneficiaries to Dec 31. According to the statement issued by the food supplies and consumer welfare department, the beneficiaries can visit their nearest fair price shop or ration card management centre by Dec 31 and complete their Aadhaar-linked e-KYC.Presently, the e-KYC process is underway at all 11,827 fair price shops and ration card management centres operating in 314 blocks and 64 urban offices. “Beneficiaries who have not been able to complete e-KYC to date are being provided PDS commodities every month as before. No eligible beneficiary has been deprived of food security due to non-completion of e-KYC,” the statement added.The state govt has already removed 30,125 ineligible ration card-holders, affecting 1,09,853 family members, from the food security schemes in Sept. It also deleted the names of 6,38,996 deceased/ghost beneficiaries from the ration card lists.Since April, the govt has added more than 3.87 lakh members of over two lakh families in the state under the scheme. The state has set a target to include 13.5 lakh from rural areas and 1.5 lakh people from urban areas.