Thiruvananthapuram: With the delay in the mustering process, being carried out based on Centre’s directives, priority beneficiaries in Kerala having ‘yellow’ (Antyodaya Anna Yojana) and ‘pink’(BPL) cards may not get free essential items from April 1.

While the Centre has set a deadline of March 31 to complete the mustering, only 10 per cent of the 1.54 crore priority ration cardholders in the state have carried out the process so far. 

The mustering was started to verify the list of priority beneficiaries and enable efficient distribution of the free items. In Kerala, the process started on February 20 and the state government gave instructions to complete it by March 18. However, only 14.82 lakh cardholders carried out the KYC mustering till March 10. 

Even amid the slow progress, the state has decided to ramp up efforts to meet the deadline and directed ration shops to engage only in mustering from March 15 to 17. For this purpose, ration distribution will not take place on these days. Special camps will also be organised for mustering, said officials.

Currently, the EPOS (electronic point of sale) machines in the ration shops cannot carry out mustering and ration supplu together. Last week, ration shops did not engage in mustering for three days to distribute the items. As ration shops are resuming mustering from Monday, supply of essential items will be halted.

Incidentally, no measures have been taken by any agency to enhance the capacity of EPOS machines which could enable smooth mustering and ration distribution. The agencies include Kerala’s Civil Supplies Department, IT Mission of the state and National Informatics Centre under the Central Government.