Following reports of large scale fake ration cards that many ineligible persons have managed to procure, Chhattisgarh government has launched a massive campaign to verify the cards and debar them. The campaign has drawn criticism for the state government as many eligible persons have also reportedly faced the axe."The eligible people debarred from ration card can go for an appeal and the district collectors have been issued necessary instruction to ensure injustice is not done with poor people," chief minister Raman Singh said.
The district collector will examine the case and take the right decision, he added.
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Being the first state to introduce food for security, Chhattisgarh has been providing rice to the card holders for a nominal price of Rs 1 a kilogram. The card holders are also eligible for free salt besides subsidised grams and cereals.
The Chhattisgarh government had been spending Rs 4000 crore for ensuring food security in the state.
In all, about 7 million people in the state are holding ration card. Of them, about 400,000 are from the general category. The campaign launched by the state government has been identifying ineligible card holders.
The authorities are cancelling such cards. Singh said many card holders had been holding 100 acres of land; moving around in luxury vehicles and using the subsidised ration that had been basically meant for the poor people.
"The state government is identifying such persons and terminating the ration cards that they had been holding illegally.