Govt plans special ration cards for Pak migrants
JODHPUR: The state government has prepared a draft of ’Special Citizen Foodgrain Scheme’ to provide ration cards and foodgrains under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) to Pakistani migrants residing on long-term visa (LTVS).
As per the draft scheme, special ration cards of orange and brown are proposed to be issued to Pakistani migrants.
Additional Food Commissioner Anil Kumar Agarwal has sent the information of the draft scheme approved by the Food Secretary to the state home department on February 17, in which he said that the implementation of the scheme will depend on the approval of the central government.
The draft plan stated that the special ration cards issued to the Pakistani migrants residing on LTV will be of a different colour from the ration cards issued earlier in the state.
For issuing such ration card, LTV card or passport will be required in place of Aadhaar card or other identity card along with the application form.
Pak Migrants families will also have to mention the LTV card number of other members in the application form.
The Home Department will provide the list of LTV cardholders to the Food and Civil Supplies Department, based on the verification of which special ration cards will be issued. As per the proposed scheme, mapping of ration card and LTV data will be done from the nearest fair price shop dealer’s POS machine.
An official familiar with the scheme said that 22,146 Pakistani migrants currently reside on LTV in the state, which would require an estimated 1107.3 quintals of wheat per month. In view of the increase in their number in the future, a separate wheat allocation will be sought from the Central Government.
The state government has taken this step-in compliance with the interim order issued by the Rajasthan High Court on September 1, 2017, which asked Hindu Pak citizens to issue temporary ration cards.
An official, who did not wish to be named, said that the state’s proposed scheme relied on the Centre’s approval, as the provisions of NFSA currently do not place Pak migrants in the food security entitlement category.
Under this Act, food grains are made available at a subsidized cost to the priority household only under the targeted public distribution system.
He said that the state home secretary has written a letter to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in this regard requesting to consider benefiting the minority migrants of Pakistan residing in the country under NFSA.
The state has mentioned to the Centre another bottleneck in the implementation of this scheme.
According to the Public Distribution System (Control) Order-2015, the state government can issue ration cards only to such citizens of the country, who are residents of that state. However, the State Government is also empowered to issue ration cards to any householder or person who has been granted the status of a refugee and is also entitled to the benefits on humanitarian grounds by the Centre. In order to issue a special ration card, the Centre will need to put Pak migrants in the category of refugees, as requested by the Home Secretary of the state.
“The Home Secretary also sent a reminder letter to the Centre on December 1 last year, but the response has not been received yet,” a departmental official admitted.