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PMC files complaint with cops over fake documents for health scheme
According to the PMC officials, two of the families, who have benefited from the UPHC since 2017, share the same ration card number
PUNE
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has discovered that citizens are using fake ration cards to avail the benefits of the Urban Poor Health Scheme (UPHS) run by the civic body. In the first instance, the authorities discovered two beneficiaries who had been using the same ration card for numerous years to profit from a programme that belonged to a third individual. The civic body on Monday filed a complaint in this regard with the Shivajinagar police.
According to the PMC officials, two of the families, who have benefited from the UPHC since 2017, share the same ration card number.
This was learned during the renewal process of the health scheme documents, which prompted concerns about one of the applicants providing forged documents. Now, officials fear that many more cases of citizens taking unfair advantage of the UPHS may be discovered.
According to Dr Manisha Naik, assistant medical officer at PMC, the ration cards do not belong to either of the two beneficiaries, and they have submitted a forged ration card to the health officials.
“The ration card belonged to a third family, but both families used it to benefit from the health scheme. After discovering two people with the same ration card number and shop names and numbers, we contacted the district supply office, who confirmed that both ration cards are bogus,” she explained.
The PMC initiated the UPHS a decade ago with the goal of providing free or discounted medical treatment to the economically weaker section at hospitals affiliated with the scheme.
Another doctor, who requested anonymity, stated that touts are assisting citizens to avail themselves of the scheme despite being ineligible. “They charge citizens between ₹10 thousand and ₹30 thousand to arrange the necessary documents for the scheme. An investigation to identify such perpetrators is underway,” stated the officer.
Dr Bhagwan Pawar, PMC’s health officer, stated, “We request citizens to refrain from engaging in such illegal activities as providing fake documents to benefit from the scheme is a punishable offence. The aim is that no one should take undue advantage of the scheme and keep the eligible people deprived of the scheme,” he said.
