Drive to eliminate bogus ration cards begins

The first phase of elimination of bogus ration cards started from Monday.The State Government today issued fresh guidelines to weed out bogus white ration cards through door-to-door verification across the State.The proposed physical verification will be taken up jointly by the Civil Supplies, Rural Development and Housing departments.

 
The officials have been instructed to complete the programme in four phases by the end of October.The District Collectors have been directed to constitute 20 teams per mandal each team comprising two Government employees, and two social auditors or community resource persons.The officials have been instructed to ensure that no genuine card is cancelled. The verification teams will be held responsible for any omission or commission or improper verification during the household survey and disciplinary action will be initiated against the team.

After the verification is over, the lists of bogus cards will be displayed on the notice board of the Gram Panchayat and fair price shops to enable any interested or affected persons to make claims or counter claims. The cards will be cancelled only after verifying the claims or counter claims in the Gram Sabhas.The card-holders found to be residents but having failed to give the iris at the time of obtaining the card, will be allowed to go to the permanent DPL or e-seva counters to get their cards validated.

An acknowledgment will be issued to eligible families who do not have ration cards by the verification team and they can obtain the new cards after the bogus cards elimination process is over. A grievance cell will be established in the Collectorate and the RDO office for redressing the grievances of the cardholders.The teams will also verify the genuine beneficiaries of pension and Indiramma houses simultaneously.Further, the District Collectors have been asked to create awareness among public on the proposed physical verification.

According to officials, there are about 1.89 crore white ration cards in the State. Of them, about 30-35 lakh bogus ration cards are estimated to have been issued.“It’s a comprehensive study intending to collect data of the beneficiaries of pensions, Indiramma houses and ration cards and delete the ghost beneficiaries from the lists after a thorough review at the divisional level,” an official explained.