The Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed the Delhi government to make public on its website the reasons for not distributing free ration to all the BPL (below poverty line) card holders. The order was issued on an appeal filed by BPL card holder Ram Rekha Prasad Gupta, who was not allocated free ration despite being allotted a card in January.
A resident of Okhla, Gupta filed an application under the Right To Information (RTI) Act with the food supplies and consumer department, seeking reasons for not allocating ration to him. When he didn’t get a satisfactory reply, he approached CIC with an appeal.
He also claimed he was not the only person who had been denied ration meant for people under the BPL category, but many of his fellow residents were also not getting the benefits of the scheme. Gupta alleged no one in his locality was getting kerosene against their BPL ration cards. “The commissioner, food and supplies department, will inform the appellant and the commission why some people are being allocated rations and the appellant is not being allocated any rations, before November 15, 2010,” Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said in his order.