Thiruvananthapuram: The mustering process of priority ration cards has came to a halt across the state on Friday due to a server issue. Though Food and Civil Supplies Minister G R Anil said that mustering process is partially halted, the ration shops across the state have been facing technical issues in carrying out the mustering process since Friday morning.

" Only yellow (Antoydaya Anna Yojana) ration cardholders will be allowed to complete the mustering process on Friday. Mustering for pink cardholders who come under the BPL category will resume from Saturday," said the minister.

The ration shop dealers claimed that they hadn't received any directions on continuing the process for yellow cardholders as informed by the minister. 

Long queues of priority ration cardholders were seen in most of the ration shops. A ration shop dealer in Kochi told Manorama News that officials told him that the technical issue would be resolved by 9 am. Minister GR Anil said that the civil supplies department will seek the help of technical experts to solve the issue. But, all ration shops have been continuing to experience technical errors, reported Manorama News.

A few days ago, the department claimed that the technical issues persisted as the mustering process and ration supply were carried out through the same machine. Intending to complete the mustering process soon, the government had directed ration shops to halt the ration supply from March 15 to 17 and engage only in the mustering process. However, the mustering process failed in all ration shops across the state.

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. As per official data, a total of 15 lakh beneficiaries have to complete the mustering.