Ludhiana: In 3 months, 1 lakh subsidised foodgrain beneficiaries removed

Additionally, the beneficiaries who have shifted to some other states following marriage, moved abroad or carrying dual ration cards, willingly surrendered their shares of subsidised food

Acting on the verification drive to weed out ineligible beneficiaries, Ludhiana has witnessed exclusion of over 1.09 lakh people enrolled for subsidised foodgrains in the past three months. Under this, most of the beneficiaries have not availed their subsidised ration from the past one year, officials familiar with the matter said.

According to official data, the district had earlier had 18,09,609 ration cards in May, a number which has steeply dropped to 17,00,061 in August, removing around 1.09 lakh beneficiaries. (HT File)

Additionally, the beneficiaries who have shifted to some other states following marriage, moved abroad or carrying dual ration cards, willingly surrendered their shares of subsidised food. Such people form a large portion of the removed beneficiaries, officials added.

The exercise is a part of the central government’s effort to ensure that food grains reach only the deserving families. Authorities added that the process of identifying and striking off such ineligible names will continue in the coming month.

According to a notification issued by the central government on March 17, 2023, all states and Union Territories were directed to launch a 100% e-KYC campaign at fair price shops under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. The move is aimed to create space for the creation of new ration cards after weeding out the bogus ones.

According to official data, the district had earlier had 18,09,609 ration cards in May, a number which has steeply dropped to 17,00,061 in August, removing around 1.09 lakh beneficiaries. Among these, 34, 798 are silent beneficiaries and 2,223 are dead beneficiaries.

Reportedly, with the eKYC drive deadline till September 31, around 2.4 lakh beneficiaries in Ludhiana are likely to be removed further if they fail to complete their verification at their nearby ration depots, officials said.

The eKYC drive targets existing beneficiaries receiving free foodgrains under the Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Anna Yojana, verifying their authenticity and removing ineligible or deceased beneficiaries from the system. It is part of the Centre’s ‘one nation one ration card’ initiative to issue new ration cards to deserving families.

The Punjab food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department, in a notification dated August 25, had instructed depot holders to operate from 9 am to 5 pm to ensure the verification of these remaining people under the targeted public distribution system.

Explaining the situation, Sudhanshu, a senior dealing hand at the district food and civil supplies department, said,” Most of these removed beneficiaries had either stopped availing their ration or moved elsewhere, which made them ineligible under the current system.”