Life Cycle Management of Ration Card in West Bengal

Government of West Bengal
Food and Supplies Department
11 A, Mirza Ghalib Street, Kolkata-700 087

No. 20-SS FS/O/Sectt/IT-13/09-(Pt) Dated, the 27th January, 2017

ORDER

Notification has already been issued vide No. 3156-FS dated 25th November, 2016 amending the West Bengal Public Distribution System (Maintenance & control) order, 2013 and West Bengal Urban Public Distribution System (Maintenance & Control) Order, 2013 specifying the procedure and Forms for (1) issue of new ration card, (2) correction of name and address in the ration card, (3) change of Fair Price Shop and for (4) surrender of ration card.

2. Now the Governor is pleased to decide that issue of ration cards, correction of name etc., change of fair price shop and exclusion of names for the all categories of beneficiaries viz. AAY, PHH, SPHH, RKSY-I and RKSY-II shall be processed through an on-line application system called Ration card life cycle management. Subject to the stipulations made in the said Control Orders or subsequent modification thereof, for these services, the ordinary residents of the State will have to apply in relevant Forms and submit to the Food and Supplies Inspectors in case of Blocks or Municipalities in Modified Rationing areas and to respective Rationing Officers in case of SR areas.

3. The detailed procedure for processing the applications are stated in the Annexure to this order.

4. This order shall take effect from 1st February, 2017.

Sd/- Special Secretary
Food and Supplies Department

Annexure to Order No. 20/FS/O/Sectt/IT-13/09 (Pt) dated 27.01.2017 regarding
Life Cycle Management of Ration Card

Procedure for issue of new ration card, duplicate ration card, cancellation of ration card and modification (Life cycle management of ration card)

1. Issuance of new ration card – Any person who is a resident of the State and does not possess any digital ration card (in AAY, PHH, SPHH, RKSY-I or RKSY-II category) in his name or anyone of his family member anywhere in India may approach the inspector of Food & Supplies Department located at the block offices/ Municipality or to the Rationing Officers in case of SR areas with filled-in hard copy of an application form in Form-III R (for Rural areas) or in Form-III U (for Urban areas) which may be downloaded from the portal or a blank application form may be obtained from concerned Food and Supplies Inspector or Rationing Officer, with supporting documents as attachment for inclusion of his name in the eligible beneficiary list.

2. On receipt of the application form at Block office/ SCFS office or Rationing Officer as the case may be, the concerned officer receiving the application will affix a pre-printed bar coded sticker, which may be generated from the portal of food and supplies (www.wbpds.gov.in ) on the main application as well as on the acknowledgement portion of the application. The number referred on the bar coded sticker will be the reference number of the application and all queries subsequently will be in reference to this number. The applicant may view the status of disposal of the application online.

3. On receipt of the application, the information provided in application form is to be filled through online system by the block/ Municipal level officials (on behalf of the applicant). After such entry, the Food & Supplies officials will do necessary verification process online. The Inspector will verify the name of the applicant or his family members as it exists in the NPR/SECC data base, which is available with this department as uploaded in the server of the Food and Supplies Department, using their respective User ID and password. If the applicant’s name or name of the head of the household is found in the NPR/SECC database and matches with the existing TIN, it should be fetched or incorporated as identity of the applicant. In case the name is not available in the database, backend verification process for ascertaining his/her identity is to be done and a new entry will be inserted for the applicant. This identification shall require field verification supplemented by secondary document. Thereafter the Inspector will recommend for issue of ration card after allotting the nearest ration shop against his name. The name of the applicant will appear in a list which will be accessed by BDO in case of Block area, SCFS in case of Municipality and Rationing Officer in case of SR area as “Application for new ration card-pending approval”. The concerned BDO, Rationing Officer or SCFS, as the case may be will then accord online approval. After the concerned approving officer approves the application, the data will automatically be forwarded online to the Food and Supplies Department. The Department in turn will make necessary arrangement for printing of the ration cards and for dispatch to concerned Block/ SCFS office, as the case may be.

4. If any person who is an ordinary resident of this State and does not have any digital ration card (in AAY, PHH, SPHH, RKSY-I or RKSY-II category) but his/her other family members possess digital ration card(s) in above mentioned category, may approach the inspector of Food & Supplies Department located at the block offices/ Municipality or to the Rationing Officers in case of SR areas with filled-in hard copy of the application form in Form-IV R (for Rural areas) or in Form-IV U (for Urban areas), which may be downloaded from the portal or a blank application may be obtained from concerned Food and Supplies Inspector or Rationing Officer, with supporting documents as attachment for inclusion of his name in the eligible beneficiary list.

5. On receipt of such application the concerned officials at Block/ Sub-Division or Municipality level shall similarly process the case as described in the paragraph-3 above. After the concerned approving officer approves the application, the data will automatically be forwarded online to the Food and Supplies Department. The Department in turn will make necessary arrangement for printing of the ration cards and for dispatch to concerned Block/ SCFS office, as the case may be.

6. Application for change in particulars of existing ration card (not pertaining to change of FPS) – There may be a need for change of information in the ration card already issued. This may be due to mistake in the database such as spelling of the name, parents name, address etc. The applicant will fill-in the form in hard copy in Form-V R or V-U as the case may be along with supporting documents, which may be downloaded from the portal and hand over the filled-in application to the concerned office of Food & Supplies Department (Block/Municipality/Rationing Office). The lnspector/SC&FS/R.O will access the existing records and will judge admissibility of changes demanded. If the changes are acceptable, it will be done on-line. These names will be forwarded to the approval list of BDO, Rationing Officer or SCFS in similar way as stated in case of issue of new ration card.

7. Application for request for transfer of ration shop: A person may apply for change in location of FPS as recorded in his/ her ration card in Form-VI R or VI U as the case may be. It may be mentioned that if the application relates to request for shifting of FPS of all of the members of the family, then relevant particulars in Part-I of the said form are to be filled in. If change of FPS is due to shifting of a member from one family to another family due to marriage etc., then the relevant information as required in Part-II of the Form-VI R or VI U is to be filled in, and if the request for change is for shifting of more than one member but not all members to a new address then the information required in Part -III of the said form is to be provided.

On receipt of the said application, the at Block office/ SCFS office or Rationing Officer as the case may be, the concerned officer receiving the application will affix the pre-printed bar coded sticker, which may be generated from the portal of food and supplies (www.wbpds.gov.in ) on the main application as well as on the acknowledgement portion of the application. The number referred on the bar coded sticker will be the reference number of the application. The applicant may view the status of disposal of the application on line. The information provided in application form is to be filled through online system by the block/ Municipal level officials (on behalf of the applicant). After online entry of application details, the Food & Supplies officials will log-in to the relevant module of the portal and shall make change of the FPS. The system will allow printing a sticker containing the details of the ration card and the name and number of the changed FPS. After printing the sticker, the concerned Food and Supplies Inspector shall arrange to affix the sticker on the ration card. After affixing the said sticker the change of FPS as per request will be effected.

8. Application for exclusion of name from eligible beneficiaries list: A person may apply for exclusion of his name or name of any member of his family from a beneficiary list in Form- VII R or Form VII U as the case may be. Ration card Issuing authority may after necessary verification allow the exclusion as prayed. The concerned Inspector/ SCFS shall log in to the portal using the user ID and password and shall do the necessary processing on-line and receive back the original cards. Such returned cards are to be kept in safe custody and procedure for their disposal separately notified.

9. Issuance of duplicate ration card – A ration card holder may apply for duplicate Ration card if it is lost, along with a copy of general diary lodged with the concerned police station. The Food & Supplies Inspector will then make necessary verifications which will include search of the relevant ration card numbers of the applicant (s) in the existing data base. If records are available in the database, the Food and Supplies Inspector will proceed for recommending duplicate ration card. After the concerned approving officer approves the application, the data will be automatically forwarded to the Food and Supplies Department. The Department in turn will make necessary arrangement for printing of the ration cards and for dispatch to concerned Block/ SCFS office, as the case may be.

No. 20-SS dated 27.01.2017