Hyderabad has been witnessing long queues at the public distribution system (PDS) shops (ration shops) for the past few weeks. Beneficiaries waiting in queues to update their KYC (Know Your Customer) allege that these shops lack basic facilities to accommodate the flow of hundreds of people. They also mention a lack of human power and digital infrastructure, except for IPOS machines.
Card-holders have observed huge lines of people standing in front of PDS shops all day to provide their biometrics. However, no special arrangements have been made at these shops, causing difficulties for people, especially senior citizens. Many shops have been closed for the past few days, leading to beneficiaries going back empty-handed.
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Ramesh from Nagole expresses his concerns, stating that there is no clarity about the purpose of conducting the KYC exercise and not enough publicity has been given to the people. This has caused fear and panic among card-holders. There are rumors that if they do not update their KYC, they won’t be able to receive ration. Ramesh has been visiting PDS shops for the past two days, but the updating process is taking a long time. Shop-owners are struggling to manage the crowd due to the lack of basic facilities.
Another card-holder, Shanti Reddy, shares her experience of being asked by the PDS dealer to visit a nearby MeeSeva center. However, even there, the KYC update couldn’t be done due to technical issues. There is still no clarity on when they can update their KYC. Shanti questions why they are asked to visit MeeSeva centers when this process should be done at PDS shops. She suggests that the government should stop the ongoing exercise and adopt a different method of updating KYC.
A PDS dealer, speaking anonymously, explains that they have been struggling to handle the huge crowds for the past few weeks. Ration shops only have IPOS machines, which are not recording thumb impressions due to technical issues. Therefore, they have asked card-holders to visit nearby MeeSeva centers.
More and more difficulty to do kyc