Sisodia alleges corruption in ration delivery system

He also urged Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal to remove Food Commissioner RK Meena and grant approval to the Delhi government's home delivery of ration scheme.

According to Sisodia, preliminary inquiry into a sample of data indicates that the provision of one-time password (OTP) has been misused and the ration has been syphoned off during March.

Ration delivery in the city is being done through ePoS (electronic point of sale) machines, since January 1.

However, due to internet connectivity issues at shops, a new system was introduced on March 1, under which if ePoS machines were not working, the beneficiaries would get ration after they received an OTP on their registered mobile number.

Sisodia said that the government has found cases where ration for 499 houses was given through one mobile number's OTP.

"On one particular mobile number, 499 card-holders were given ration. Based on OTPs sent on 11 mobile numbers, the ration of around 1,550 households were distributed, which indicates open theft of ration," Sisodia alleged.

The Deputy CM also said that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Food and Civil Supplies Minister Imran Hussain have written to the LG flagging this issue.

Sisodia said that the government had earlier written to Baijal about corruption in ration delivery system, but the latter had turned it down, stating that the delivery system was working well according to officials.

In the last four months, around 4.2 lakh residents have not received ration due to the LG's rejection of the Aam Aadmi Party-led government's decision of delivering ration to the doorstep of Public Distribution System (PDS) beneficiaries, Delhi government officials have claimed.

Over the last few months, the ration delivery system in the Capital has been haphazard.

In a recent order, the LG had asked the elected government to stall the doorstep delivery of ration scheme and reconsider the rejection of e-PoS based ration delivery system.

After the government decided to give ration to beneficiaries who had linked their Aadhaar card with the PDS, beneficiaries in rural parts of the Capital witnessed many problems.

Nearly 25 lakh people did not get ration, which forced the Delhi government to change the decision.

Sources in the government said it faced hurdles in ration distribution in slums, outskirts areas and unauthorised colonies.