Non-withdrawal of grains: Over 62L ration cards deactivated across state

This is a continuous process and if we find that a person is not withdrawing food grains for a long time we go for deactivation

MP  |  23 Sept 2022 |  KOLKATA: The state Food and Supplies department has deactivated more than 62 lakh ration cards across the state with the beneficiaries found not withdrawing food grains for a long time. 

"We have already deactivated 62.24 lakh ration cards. This is a continuous process and if we find that a person is not withdrawing food grains for a long time we go for deactivation," state Food and Supplies minister Rathin Ghosh said during the question-answer session at the state Assembly on Thursday. 

The department has already completed a majority of Aadhaar linking with ration cards for over 9.2 crore beneficiaries and has found that at least 1.5 crore of them hardly avail foodgrain facilities. 

The department deems that they have either died or the ration cards are bogus and so they have gone for deactivation. 

A senior official in the Food department made it clear that a beneficiary need not worry about deactivation. 

"If somebody wants to avail the ration facilities. He/she can approach any ration shop or any Bangla Sahayata Kendra, link Aadhaar with ration card and the card becomes activated immediately," the official added. 

The department has also initiated the process of rationalising the number of customers that each ration dealer across the state has to cater to. 

The move is aimed at easing the hardship faced by a section of ration dealers in reaching out to the huge volume of beneficiaries under their jurisdiction. 

"Presently there are nearly 21,000 ration dealers across the state that cater to 9.20 crore customers. However, there is a disparity among the number of beneficiaries that each ration shop has to reach out to. In some cases, the number is 3,000 while in some other cases it is over 12,000. So we have taken up the task of rationalisation of the number of beneficiaries for each ration dealer," a senior official of State Food and Supplies department said. 

The process has already started and the department is hopeful that the rationalisation will be over in three to four months. 

The move will benefit both the customers as well as the dealers. 

http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/non-withdrawal-of-grains-over-62l-ration-cards-deactivated-across-state-493804