From Nov, Delhi govt to start survey to track inactive ration cards: Minister

A ration card is said to be inactive when the beneficiary does not collect the subsidised ration from fair price shops for three straight months.

From November, the Aam-Aadmi Party (AAP)-led government in Delhi will begin carrying out a door-to-door survey to track ration cards, which have been inactive for the past two to three months, Delhi food minister Imran Hussain has said. “We will conduct a door-to-door survey from next month to check beneficiaries who are not collecting ration for two-three months. We will check if the person has gone to his hometown or is sick. In such genuine cases, ration cards will not be disconnected,” Imran Hussain told PTI on Friday.

Delhi currently has around 7.2 million beneficiaries, who are delivered ration through a network of around 2,000 fair price shops under the public distribution system. (Raj K Raj/HT file photo)

Hussain also said that if the ration card is inactive and the beneficiary is not existing or has left Delhi, then such card will be cancelled and new ones will be included. The food minister assured that ration cards will not be cancelled without any valid reason. A ration card is said to be inactive when the beneficiary does not collect the subsidised ration from fair price shops for three straight months.

"There will be some people who must have not come in July but collected ration in August and some must have skipped August but taken food grains in September. We will spare those cards who did not come to collect ration for one or two months," Hussain further said. He added that with the use of electronic-point of sale (e-PoS) machines by the end of this month, the department will have data about beneficiaries who are contentiously not collecting ration.

The Delhi government banned the use of e-PoS machines in early 2018 after complaints came in of poor network leading to authentication failures and exclusion of genuine beneficiaries. However, the system was restored in July this year. Delhi currently has around 7.2 million beneficiaries, who are delivered ration through a network of around 2,000 fair price shops under the public distribution system.

Delhi food minister Hussain chaired a review meeting on September 9 to issue new ration cards and told officials to ensure that cases of biometric mismatch don’t lead to any problem for beneficiaries.