Card Code Red
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Highlights
- In 18 slums across two wards in Bengaluru, over 300 applications for ration cards are pending; and without BPL cards, these people cannot access healthcare facilities
- BangaloreOne centre hiccups hitting the poor hardest
Irfan Pasha, a 42-year-old street vendor from a slum in Chelvagpalya, has been running from pillar to post for days now. Pasha is in urgent need of a kidney transplant after both his kidneys failed nearly a year ago. The fruit seller, who is the sole bread earner of his family, has been on dialysis at Victoria Hospital. While Pasha’s sister has come forward to donate her kidney and save her brother’s life, it still appears like a distant dream for the family.
In the absence of aration card , Pasha’s sister will have to spend Rs 2.5 lakh to get her kidney extracted, a sum that is beyond their reach.
“The family has been trying to apply for a ration card so the treatment cost can be brought down, but there are many hurdles. They reached out to their nearestBangaloreOne centre but it took them a few trips to multiple BangaloreOne centres in the city to be able to reach the next step. However, now they are unable to upload their documents due to server-related issues, losing precious time,” said Jhansi, a member of Slum Mahila Sanghatane that is working with the slum dwellers in the city.
According to the Sanghatane, Pasha is not the only victim of poor service at BaangaloreOne centres and technical issues marring the scheme. Just in 18 slums across two wards in Bengaluru, over 300 applications for ration cards are pending. The outcome is thatpoor families are unable to get urgent medical treatments even in government hospitals.
Grassroot level workers say these applications were filed from KR Market and Chelwadypalya wards in 2017-18. However, their applications are still pending.
No treatment for them
“Many applicants from areas such as Anandpuram, KP Agrahara, and JJR Nagar are senior citizens and since they do not have BPL cards, they have not received treatment for health issues like kidney and heart-related ailments also. They submitted their application in 2017-18. They are all street vendors who are not working anymore and their children are supporting them. But they will not be able to avail treatment without the card,” added Jhansi.
Those helping the slum dwellers get the cards say the Food and Civil Supplies Department needs reform to be more useful to the category of citizens they are catering to.
The department has no system in place to inform the slum dwellers when new applications are invited for issuance of ration cards. The beneficiaries of the scheme are not well versed in technology to go to the department’s website and check these detailsThe department has no system in place to inform the slum dwellers when new applications are invited for issuance of ration cards. The beneficiaries of the scheme are not well versed in technology to go to the department’s website and check these details.
“The department has no system in place to inform the slum dwellers when new applications are invited for issuance of ration cards. The beneficiaries of the scheme are not well versed in technology to go to the department’s website and check these details. While they are informed by ration shopkeepers about the short window opened by the department to invite applications, they face a fresh hurdle at BangaloreOne centres. Even if they brave that, they are then stuck with poor server performance. This process has to change and be made user-friendly,” said Raghavendra B Pachhapur of ActionAid Association.
In the absence of a
“The family has been trying to apply for a ration card so the treatment cost can be brought down, but there are many hurdles. They reached out to their nearest
According to the Sanghatane, Pasha is not the only victim of poor service at BaangaloreOne centres and technical issues marring the scheme. Just in 18 slums across two wards in Bengaluru, over 300 applications for ration cards are pending. The outcome is that
Grassroot level workers say these applications were filed from KR Market and Chelwadypalya wards in 2017-18. However, their applications are still pending.
No treatment for them
“Many applicants from areas such as Anandpuram, KP Agrahara, and JJR Nagar are senior citizens and since they do not have BPL cards, they have not received treatment for health issues like kidney and heart-related ailments also. They submitted their application in 2017-18. They are all street vendors who are not working anymore and their children are supporting them. But they will not be able to avail treatment without the card,” added Jhansi.
Those helping the slum dwellers get the cards say the Food and Civil Supplies Department needs reform to be more useful to the category of citizens they are catering to.
The department has no system in place to inform the slum dwellers when new applications are invited for issuance of ration cards. The beneficiaries of the scheme are not well versed in technology to go to the department’s website and check these detailsThe department has no system in place to inform the slum dwellers when new applications are invited for issuance of ration cards. The beneficiaries of the scheme are not well versed in technology to go to the department’s website and check these details.
The department has no system in place to inform the slum dwellers when new applications are invited for issuance of ration cards. The beneficiaries of the scheme are not well versed in technology to go to the department’s website and check these details
“The department has no system in place to inform the slum dwellers when new applications are invited for issuance of ration cards. The beneficiaries of the scheme are not well versed in technology to go to the department’s website and check these details. While they are informed by ration shopkeepers about the short window opened by the department to invite applications, they face a fresh hurdle at BangaloreOne centres. Even if they brave that, they are then stuck with poor server performance. This process has to change and be made user-friendly,” said Raghavendra B Pachhapur of ActionAid Association.
