Govt receives over 2.70L applications for non-subsidised foodgrain ration cards

Kolkata: The state Food & Supplies department has received over 2.70 lakh applications for non-subsidised foodgrain ration cards. The number of beneficiaries who will come under this category is around 7 lakh.

The highest number of applications have come from Kolkata followed by Bidhannagar and Barrackpore in North 24-Parganas. The department in November 2019, had rolled out form 10 through which people who does not avail the facilities of ration under National Food Security or State Food Security can surrender their cards but still continue to keep the card as an identity document.

"These 7 lakh beneficiaries will be given a new card with details of his/ her identity. The new card will render the old ration cards null and void and food grains or kerosene oil cannot be availed," said a senior official of the department. The department has got over 2.5 lakh application from Kolkata alone and another 1.5 lakh from Bidhannagar and Barrackpore. The rest have come from different districts of the state. 4.37 lakh cards have already gone to the printing press and will be dispatched through postal services directly at the addresses of the beneficiaries. The data of the rest of the cards are being verified. In the last one year, the department has also blocked 5 lakh cards of people who have died.

It may be mentioned that the quota fixed by the Centre of 6.1 crore people under National Food Security in Bengal has already been reached and so no new beneficiaries can be added afresh.

"Ration cards in Bengal is like a legacy. People belonging to the upper class or upper-middle class of the society are still possessing ration cards but hardly takes food grains under the Public Distribution System (PDS) from the ration shops. This new initiative is aimed at making these people surrender their cards so that more and more needy people can derive benefits of this subsidised PDS system," the official said.

Two years ago, the department had opened up the window for people surrendering their cards through Form 7. However, in that system, there was no provision of issuing any card that can be used as an identity. The response according to officials of the Food department was lukewarm.