Lucknow: A large-scale verification exercise by the Uttar Pradesh Food and Civil Supplies Department has revealed that more than five lakh ration card holders are ineligible for subsidised food grains.
The department matched beneficiary details with income data provided by the Central Board of Direct Taxes and found significant discrepancies.
Officials said the drive aims to ensure that only genuinely deserving families receive benefits under the Antyodaya and Priority Household schemes. “The government’s priority is to eliminate wrongful beneficiaries so that the support reaches those who truly need it,” a senior official in the department said.
The CBDT had flagged 16.92 lakh ration card holders suspected of having incomes above the eligibility limits. The Food Department has completed verification of 9,10,378 cases so far.
Under the norms, only families earning up to Rs 3 lakh annually in urban areas and Rs 2 lakh in rural areas qualify for subsidised rations. When the data was matched, 9,23,013 rural card holders
and 7,69,361 urban beneficiaries were found in the higher-income bracket.
Supply inspectors were asked to conduct a detailed field verification. “Our teams have cross-checked documents and income details with utmost care. So far, 5,03,088 card holders have been confirmed as ineligible,” an inspector involved in the exercise said.