Ration beneficiaries demand fewer fingerprint scans to ease long queues in Assam's Maibang

Beneficiaries of the Maibang Cooperative Society have appealed to the government to limit fingerprint scanning to once or twice during ration distribution, instead of the current four times, citing significant inconvenience.

At present, ration card holders are required to provide fingerprints four times—once for rice, and thrice more while collecting sugar, dal and salt. 

This has created long delays and hardships, particularly for elderly women and residents from remote villages, who often have to stand in line from early morning until evening to collect their ration supplies.

The Maibang Cooperative Society serves over 1,600 ration card holders, many of whom travel 30–40 kilometres from nearby villages to receive their entitlements. 

Secretary of the society, Ashish Thaosen, said that while beneficiaries appreciate the government’s initiative of providing rice, sugar, and salt, the repeated fingerprint scans consume significant time, adding to their difficulties.

Thaosen further explained that cooperative staff also face challenges in managing the crowd and ensuring smooth distribution, given the requirement for multiple scans per beneficiary. The society has formally communicated the demand to the government, requesting that fingerprint verification be limited to one or two scans per person to ease the process.

Reducing the number of fingerprint scans, beneficiaries said, would greatly improve the efficiency of ration distribution and reduce the strain on both the recipients and cooperative staff.