The state units of Right to Food Campaign and All India People’s Forum (AIPF) requested the deputy commissioner of Ranchi to organise ration card application camps in slum areas.

A delegation comprising economist Jean Dreze, Swati Narayan of Right to Food Campaign and Nadeem Khan of AIPF met DC Chhavi Ranjan on Monday and handed over a formal letter requesting him to organise such camps “so that all eligible persons are able to apply for green ration cards”.

The Jharkhand government has recently announced it would issue 15 lakh more such green ration cards under Jharkhand state food security scheme for bringing eligible persons under public distribution system (PDS).

Mentioning that “without help many of them are likely to be unable to apply”, they requested the DC to organise ration card application camps in slum areas, adding those should be held at convenient places such as schools or marriage halls.

They further requested Ranjan to arrange “community level publicity and outreach such as loudspeaker announcement to spread information” about those camps.

They also requested the DC to give special attention to include disabled and homeless persons, single women, beggars and other vulnerable persons of the community, particularly those who do not have Aadhaar numbers.

They also requested the administration to help getting applicants such necessary documents as caste, disability and death certificates and Aadhaar numbers, adding civil society organisations may also be approached for making the camps successful.

“The DC agreed to arrange camps within a few days, with due preparation and proper publicity,” Swati Narayan of Right to Food Campaign told after their meeting with the DC.

“We expect those camps will be held within a week or so,” added Nadeem Khan of AIPF, clarifying their intention was to include every eligible person under the scheme.