BENGALURU: Rampant fraud in the newly-introduced ration coupon system in the public distribution system has forced the state government to consider closing all the private fair price shops. Linking of the public distribution system to Aadhaar numbers has enabled the department to detect about 1.60 lakh bogus ration coupons across 953 fair price shops in the state. Bengaluru tops the list with about 400 shops involved in the irregularities, said Food and Civil Supplies minister U T Khader here on Friday.
Two people have been arrested and criminal cases have been filed against them for creating fake food coupons. Deputy Commissioners of all districts have been instructed to detect bogus coupons and initiate legal action, Khader said. There are about 20,000 fair price shops of which about 12,000 are run by private people.
“We are considering closing these private fair price shops and running them through co-operative societies,” Khader said. He said the process will be launched soon, and attributed the delay to technical issues. There is also a proposal to issue temporary cards for the poor to enable them to avail medical services being offered for the BPL families.”