74k ‘ghost’ ration cards to be scrapped
Families in East Singhbhum, Seraikela-Kharsawan and West Singhbhum districts run the risk of losing their ration cards
JAMSHEDPUR: About 74, 000 families in East Singhbhum, Seraikela-Kharsawan and West Singhbhum districts under Kolhan Division run the risk of losing their ration cards as part of the statewide investigation and verification drive launched by the state government to identify and scrap fake ration cards.
The cards obtained through fake documents, having duplicate Aadhaar numbers or through which food grain quota has not been procured during the past six months would be scrapped, officials said on Thursday.“We have started door-todoor investigation to identify and verify ration cards obtained on the basis of fake documents, duplicate Aadhaar numbers and such cards through which food grains were not lifted for the past six months. Marketing officers and block supply officers have been deployed for probe,” Navin Kumar, East Singhbhum district supply officer cum special officer rationing, said on Thursday.
The state food supply and consumer affairs department had issued an order to this effect last week. The order also called for deploying teachers and headmasters for verifying and identifying such ghost cards attached to PDS (Public Distribution System) shops at the ground level in blocks and districts.
State food supply and consumer minister Dr Rameshwar Oraon had said in February that over two lakh fake ration cards would be scrapped in the state while clarifying that families having two ration cards would get one scrapped and cards issued to affluent and ineligible families as per Food Security Act (FSA) would also be nullified.
“Some such fake cards have already been scrapped. We are working on providing ration cards to 86% of the rural population and new cards will be made. As per data, eight lakh applications for new ration cards are still pending in the state.,” Oraon had said in February.
As per data of state food supply department, at least 74, 000 ration cards have been under scanner in the three districts of Kolhan alone on account of duplicate Aadhaar card numbers and nonlifting of ration for six months.
In East Singhbhum alone, 21, 410 ration cards are suspected to have been generated on the basis of duplicate Aadhaar numbers while the number of ration cards with no procurement of food grain for six months in the district could be around 8,007.
In Ranch, where 89, 479 applications for new ration cards were still pending, about 42, 684 cards were under scanner for duplicate Aadhar numbers, while 5,050 cards were not used to procure food grains for six months.
In Seraikela-Kharsawan, the number of ration cards under scanner for duplicate Aadhaar numbers is pegged at 14,428 and cards with no food-grain procurement were estimated at 10,053. In West Singhbhum district, 11,734 rations cards are estimated to have duplicate Aadhaar numbers, while 8,370 cards have not been used for procurement of food grains.