Delhi govt continues its crack down on fake ration cards
29 April 2014 6:00 AM IST
Once again the Delhi government’s Food, Civil Supplies and Consumers Department has begun its crackdown on bogus ration card holders. Confirmation of genuine holders is established through a biometric verification by the head of the family.
Food, Civil Supplies and Consumers Affairs commissioner, SS Yadav, informed that this method will aid in the elimination of bogus rations cards. He also informed that the government would halt the diversion of food grains from Fair Price Shops to traders in the open market.
Under the new system, information regarding sale of Specified Food Articles under PDS (wheat, rice and sugar), will also be available online and this will facilitate constant monitoring and greater transparency in the system.
Food and Civil Supplies Department, in its presentation to the Lieutenant-Governor, informed that the department has 70 field offices for the above tasks. The department has weeded out 21,000 bogus cards up until now. Special drives have been orgainised to enrol homeless folk under the Food Security Act. Yadav said that the department has taken up a pilot project in this regard in two Fair Price Shops (FPS) at Moti Nagar and Greater Kailash. The sale of ration for the month of April, 2014 to beneficiaries attached to these two FPS was done through the Point of Sale device and after biometric authentication of beneficiaries from the Aadhaar server.
‘The department has submitted a detailed proposal amounting to Rs. 7.50 crores in this regard to the Department of Food & Public Distribution, Government of India for financial assistance’, he added.
In 2008, the Food and Civil Supplies Department had come out with an exhaustive list of 1,70,598 fake cards.
Of these, 1,41,978 belonged to above poverty line (APL) and 28,620 to below poverty line (BPL), and Antyodaya categories. The numbers suggest that 10% of ration cards in Delhi are not genuine, said department sources.
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