25 per cent ceiling has poor denied BPCL benefits

As a result, the district administration is forced to deny them the benefit of free ration in spite of them having all eligibility to be included in the list as per the government prescribed norms.

The district authorities told DC that a large number of deserving families were denied free ration and other benefits due to this order.

Ravi Ulliyeri, a social activist, has now moved the Lok Ayuktha seeking to extend the benefits prescribed to those in the BPL list to every deserving family and to nullify the order.

Lokayukta, after admitting the petition, sent notices to the chief secretary, district collector and rural development commissioner.

“There are so many cases where deserving poor families were denied the benefits," he said. Balan Nair, a 63-year-old unemployed from Koomulli, Puthenchira, is struggling to meet the expenses for the treatment for his cancer affected wife.

Similarly, Faisal who is both blind and deaf is unemployed and does not even have a single cent of the land. "There are 600 such families in Balussery Block Panchayat alone,” Mr Ulliyeri told DC.

District collector N. Prasanth said the order forced the district administration to exclude many deserving families.

“The order mainly seeks to restrict the free ration supply to 25 percent households in each Panchayat. But it can also stop other benefits to a large deserving section. There are no clear guidelines as to how to select this 25 percent,” he told DC.

He said the district administration had been trying to help such families excluded from BPL list by providing financial assistance to them for treatment.

“We are trying to provide all other benefits to such families that are available for BPL families. We are not trying to stick to the government order as it would stop us from providing any assistance to these families dropped out from the list,” he said.