Bengaluru: In a drive against fake ration cards, the food and civil supplies department has suspended a whopping 12.3 lakh cards and stopped supply of kerosene to BPL card holders from this month after they failed to provide proof of identity sought by the department. Disclosing this here on Saturday, food and civil supplies minister Dinesh Gundurao said the government had asked BPL card holders in urban areas to provide Aadhaar card number or EPIC card number as proof of identity.
“Nearly eight lakh people failed to provide this. So, we decided to stop the supply of kerosene from this month,” he added. The department, however, provided them with foodgrains. “We have set a deadline of August 15 for these people to give proof of identity failing which we will stop providing them food grains,” he said while ruling out the possibility of extending the deadline.
The minister said next month, a similar exercise would be launched across the state particularly in rural areas. In the next three months, the government would streamline the system, he added. In all, 3.25 lakh card holders from across the state were asked since 2010 to provide proof of identity and renew their BPL cards.
“So, they will also lose the government facility,” he added. While weeding out bogus cards, the department which received 36 lakh applications seeking new BPL cards, started distributing new cards. ‘We distributed 10 lakh cards before the Lok Sabha polls. Now, after the polls, we are in the process of giving another three lakh cards,” Mr Gundu Rao added.
Replying to a query, he said after making the submission of EPIC card number and Aaadhar number which is also known as UID number mandatory, the government got 1.5 crore EPIC numbers from card holders and 1.15 crore UID numbers. “This will help us verify the authenticity of card holders,” he added. On the department’s plan to open subsidised food canteens in Bengaluru, Mr Gundu Rao said if the Centre provided additional subsidised foodgrains, then the state would think of launching the scheme.
