Around two lakh ‘ghost’ beneficiaries continue to eat up subsidised ration in the fair price shops under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) if the government’s admission is any indication.
As these ‘ghost’ beneficiaries figured in the list of fair price shops, the quota of ration allocated against them is gobbled up while genuine contenders to the quota keep waiting for their turn for inclusion in the NFSA.
The Food Supply and Consumer Welfare Department has identified as many as 1,77,068 fake ration card holders in the state who are not alive during the Know Your Customer (KYC) verification of the ration cards.
The department has completed the KYC verification of the ration cards belonging to 2,69,23,830 of the total 3,36,35,819 beneficiaries. During the verification it was found that 177,068 beneficiaries were dead, Food Supply and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushna Chandra Patra revealed while replying to a query by Manas Kumar Dutt in the Assembly.
The drive to weed out the dead beneficiaries is underway. The process of striking off dead beneficiaries will come to an end shortly. Once the process is over, the ration that was being given away against the dead can be saved and a fresh quota of eligible beneficiaries would reap NFSA benefits, the minister said, adding that 6,19,836 applications for new ration cards have been received in the state so far.