Hemant Kumar Rout By

Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: If you want your entitlements under Public Distribution System (PDS), you have to climb atop roof to get Aadhaar authentication done. This is what residents of a panchayat in Odisha’s mineral rich Keonjhar district have been following for the last few months.

The much hyped digital India programme has little meaning for them as every month, the beneficiaries gather at the Bharat Nirman Rajeev Gandhi Seva Kendra of Talakadakala panchayat under Banspal block, stand in a queue and climb atop its roof on a bamboo ladder to put their thumb impression on the Point of Sales (PoS) machine. They are allowed to get their quota of rice or other PDS items only after they complete the bio-metric verification process. Reason: The PoS machine does not function inside the building due to absence of proper internet network.

Not only women, even elderly and sick are also compelled to climb the 10 feet ladder risking their life to get the verification done before availing the benefits. Not every attempt turns out successful. They wait for hours to get their fingerprints authenticated on some days and are forced to return empty-handed other days.

Villagers alleged that initially, they had to face a lot of problem to avail their Aadhaar cards. Now they are facing a strange problem of not getting the network connectivity which would help function the PoS machine. “The only way we can get Aadhaar authentication done to receive our entitlements is by scaling a ladder to climb atop the building. The machine does not work inside or outside the building. It functions at a certain height,” said Suklal Munda, a resident.

Some other beneficiaries claimed that they had to spend hours at the panchayat office to avail the benefits as many times, the signal does not stay for a long period even at the atop roof. “We face similar difficulties when we speak on cell phones. To avoid call drop, signal deficiency or network error, we travel at least five km to reach a particular place, where network strength is a bit better,” said Parameswar Patra, another villager.

Earlier, the residents were availing PDS items through their cards. The roof-scaling practice started after the Government decided to set up bio-metric system-based PoS machines in all fair price ration shops across the State to cut pilferage in the PDS.

Admitting the difficulty, block officials said they have no problem in following the rule, but the system should work properly and efficiently. “The villagers hurl abuses at us, but what can we do? We have asked the authorities several times to either grant us offline status or set up a mobile tower, but to no avail,” said in-charge BDO of Banspal Prafulla Naik.