Karnataka: APL families not keen on availing benefit of subsidised grains

Bengaluru: Less than one per cent of the total 23 lakh Above Poverty Line (APL) card holders have so far registered their names to avail rice and wheat at concessional rate through fair price shops of Department of Food and Civil Supplies.

The state government came out with a special scheme to distribute rice and wheat at Rs 15 and Rs 10 a kg respectively following complaints that the government had neglected APL card holders. Registration counters were opened across the State to enable eligible families to apply for APL cards to get both rice at a nominal rate.

There are 33.84 lakh APL card holders in Karnataka of which nearly 22 lakh families are eligible for subsidised PDS items. Only 10,000 families have registered for the scheme. A top source in the department of food and civil supplies told Deccan Chronicle that existing and new APL holders have to register at designated centres to benefit from the scheme. Unfortunately, the response had been very poor for this scheme.

For the convenience of the general public, the department had obtained special permission from department of e-governance for online registration of ration cards at all Bengaluru One centres. But the demand for BPL cards is more than APL cards. Those who want APL cards only use it as one of the government documents to avail other services.