A Big Hit: Delhi Govt Received 55L Applications Till June For Availing Doorstep Delivery Service

The Delhi government has received an encouraging response to its doorstep delivery scheme. It received more than 55 lakh applications to avail the doorstep delivery of various services till June this year, as per officials.

However, the data on the same services between January and May was not available because of the coronavirus pandemic, the officials said on July 24.

In February 2019, the Delhi government had started the doorstep delivery service with only 30 services but more were added later on. Presently, Delhi residents can avail close to 108 services of various departments at their doorsteps. According to the officials, people can call the helpline number – 1076 to avail the doorstep delivery facility.

Highest Number Of Applications Received For Delivery Of Caste Certificates

As many as 14,32,480 applications were received for the doorstep delivery of caste certificates, which was the highest. Close to 13,32,000 applications were received to deliver income certificates. An official said that despite the services being shut for over five months due to lockdown last year, the numbers are encouraging.

The Delhi government received around 4.11 lakh applications for labour registrations, 3.52 lakh for civil defence registrations, 2.92 lakh for birth certificates, and 2.56 lakh for a certificate of residence and around 1.89 lakh applications for ration cards.

Doorstep Delivery Of Ration Scheme

The Delhi government had also proposed doorstep delivery of ration scheme, and it was scheduled to be launched on March 25. However, the proposed scheme, which prominently figured on the Aam Admi Party's 2020 poll manifesto, was objected to and halted by the Centre twice.

The objective of the scheme was to deliver PDS food grains to the doorsteps of the beneficiaries. According to the plan, the beneficiaries who wanted to avail the facilities would have to sign up for the scheme. They would be notified in advance through SMS about the delivery. After bio-metric verification, the package would be handed over to the beneficiary. However, the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution raised two objections prior to its launch, and the scheme was halted. It stated that the scheme violated the National Food Security Act, 2013.

Other States That Have Implemented Similar Schemes

The Andhra Pradesh government launched the doorstep delivery of the monthly ration scheme under the public distribution system (PDS) scheme on February 1 this year. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had flagged off a fleet of 2,500 'mobile dispensing units' to supply ration and quality rice at the beneficiaries' doorsteps across the state. The state government had also purchased 9,260 mobile vehicles to distribute rice and other essential commodities. As for the verification, the vehicle has a key register that conveys the delivery time to the respective ward or village volunteer. For further authentication, the ration can be distributed through the finger process of the e-pass machines.

In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee had promised the launch of 'Duare Ration' to help people get ration at their doorsteps in Trinamool Congress's 2021 poll manifesto. This scheme that has already been rolled out follows the template of the 'Duare Sarkar' programme, which was introduced to cut out the middleman, reduce corruption, and deliver government services directly to the beneficiaries.

Also Read: Everything You Need To Know About Kejriwal's Doorstep Delivery Scheme Recently Approved By L-G