Names of 6.52 lakh ration card holders are going to be deleted in Delhi, know why they will not get food grains?

In the investigation of the Food and Supplies Department in Delhi, 6.52 lakh ration card holders were found ineligible. These include private car owners and duplicate beneficiaries. Names of dead people have also been found in the list.

Large-scale irregularities have come to light under the free ration scheme in the country's capital, Delhi. The investigation of the Food and Supplies Department has revealed that about 6.52 lakh beneficiaries have been found ineligible. These beneficiaries are about 10% of the total 72.77 lakh beneficiaries. These also include people who have private vehicles, valuable land in the city, pay income tax, or are directors of a registered company.

Who all were found ineligible?

According to the data of the department...

95,741 beneficiaries have private cars, but they have also been found ineligible for this.

Apart from this, 2.80 lakh people who are land owners, income tax payers, or directors of any company are also ineligible for this scheme.

89,084 duplicate beneficiaries have also been found in the investigation, whose names are registered in ration cards in more than one state.

Apart from this, there are also 1.84 lakh silent beneficiaries who are not taking rations for more than 6 months and have not even completed e-KYC.

Duplicate and fake beneficiaries also came to the fore

Officials said that a large number of people are taking advantage of ration cards in more than one state. For example, a family was taking rations from both Bihar and Delhi. After investigation, it has been recommended to remove 27,745 duplicate names. At the same time, 41,181 beneficiaries were retained in Delhi.

The dead and those above 100 years of age are also in the list

The department has also found the names of about 10,000 deceased beneficiaries. Also, there are 1,033 such names registered whose age is stated to be between 100 to 120 years. All these will be removed from the list.

Why is this action being taken?

There are currently 17.46 lakh ration card holders in Delhi. Out of which 16.80 lakh priority families and 66,150 come under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana. AAY families get 35 kg of grain every month, while PHH cardholders get 5 kg of grain per member. Free ration is being given for 5 years under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana from January 2024. But the benefit of the scheme should be available only to those whose annual income is less than one lakh. For this purpose, the central government started the ration card verification campaign across the country in July 2023, which was rapidly implemented in Delhi from January.

E-KYC and on-ground verification

Officials said that till now e-KYC of about 80% ration card holders of Delhi has been completed. Those whose e-KYC has not been done, their names can also be removed from the list, the department has sent the list of people found ineligible to the local food supply officers and inspectors so that investigation can be done at the ground level.

Government's claim

Delhi's Food and Supply Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that the government is committed to ensure that no eligible family is deprived of their rightful ration. He said that the verification process is going on, we are making the system more transparent so that the benefits of the scheme reach only the right and genuine people.