Chandigarh: Haryana has cancelled 2.91 lakh ration cards of ineligible beneficiaries in the region in the last three years. Its neighbour Punjab has annulled 2.87 lakh such ration cards while the hill state of Himachal Pradesh found 59,435 ration card holders not entitled to enjoy the benefits of the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) from 2018 to 2020.
Minister of state in the ministry of rural development and consumer affairs, food and public distribution Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti shared this information during the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament on Tuesday. She said that under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), Aadhaar seeding of ration cards ensures uniqueness of beneficiaries in the public distribution system, avoiding duplicate or bogus ration cards. So far, more than 92% ration cards, at least one member of household, have been Aadhaar seeded at the national level. A total of 30 states and Union territories have completed the Aadhaar seeding of ration cards under NFSA, said the minister.
Punjab government has nearly 1.41 crore beneficiaries under the NFSA out of its total population of 2.77 crore, as per the 2011 census. These beneficiaries are being distributed wheat and rice under the TPDS from nearly 17,360 fair price shops through electronic point of sale (e-PoS) machines. After the Congress came to power in the state in 2017, the SAD has been accusing the Punjab government of cancelling ration cards or blue cards of many eligible SAD workers. As nearly 3.94 lakh ration card holders in Punjab did not draw wheat after introduction of the biometric system in the fair price shops for TPDS, the government had ordered a probe in October 2018 and cancelled ration cards of those found ineligible.
Responding to another question, the minister informed that the department has received 4,483 complaints regarding irregularities and corruption in the public distribution system from 2018 to June 30 this year in 36 states and UTs. Out of these, 174 complaints pertained to Haryana, 127 to Punjab, about 10 to UT Chandigarh and five to Himachal.
The TPDS is operated under the joint responsibilities of the central and the state/UT governments in which the operational responsibilities, such as identification of beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act, issuance of ration cards to them, allocation of foodgrains to all fair price shops, distribution to beneficiaries, licensing and monitoring of fair price shops, grievance redressal of beneficiaries lies with the concerned state or UT government.
Box:
Ration cards cancelled
State/UT
2018
2019
2020
Haryana
2,91,926
–
–
Punjab
34,972
194,031
1,58,471
Himachal Pradesh
56,8568
367
2,210
