Multiple cards trip Anna Bhagya

Bangalore: Senior bureaucrats strongly feel that the circulation of multiple ration cards in the state seems to be the biggest hurdle in  implementing the Congress government's flagship programme, ‘Anna Bhagya’ in various districts.

Additional Chief Secretary (Home),  V. Umesh chaired the meeting on the scheme in the absence of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a senior bureaucrat who attended the district in-charge secretaries meeting, said: "Circulation of multiple ration cards by several families and lack of staff to speed up the issue of BPL cards are two major hurdles in  implementing the CM's pet scheme." 

The Anna Bhagya scheme which ensures supply of subsidised foodgrains to poor families, was launched after the Congress swept to power in Karnataka.

The source added that several local leaders are mounting  pressure on  bureaucrats not to act on multiple ration cards ahead of  the Lok Sabha elections, which is causing major problems in procuring rice  and food grains under this scheme. "Therefore, most of the  secretaries demanded that food and civil supplies principal secretary, Lata Krishna Rao act on these complaints," the source elaborated.

The source added that the implementation of the bio-metric system for issue of new cards was  creating a mess as the software was not functioning properly in some districts like Tumkur, Belgaum and Haveri. "Several ration shops too have joined hands with  black marketers to siphon off food grains supplied by  the state government," the source explained.

The source claimed that several districts were facing problems in sorting out online applications for APL and BPL cards. "Lack of staff is a major problem to carry out this mammoth task," the source observed. "The Belgaum district incharge secretary demanded at least 1000 staff members additionally to implement the scheme smoothly in his district," the source added.