CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government has struck off the names of 13 lakh eligible beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) scheme, as the state had 1.57 crore beneficiaries who get food grain (wheat) under this scheme.
However, as per norms set up by the Centre, the beneficiaries should not number more than 1.41 crore, which meant there were 16 lakh additional beneficiaries who benefited under the NFSA. Sources said there are 40.68 lakh ration card holders in the state who get 5 kg of wheat per person in the family, every month at a nominal cost of Rs 2 per kg. The district administrations are conducting a re-verification exercise looking for the ineligible beneficiaries.
So far 38.50 lakh ration card holders have been screened or verified, which is 97 % of the total ration card holders. Of them, 3.36 lakh cards have been canceled, which is 13 lakh ineligible beneficiaries. The district administrations started the survey to verify the ration cards after the Centre fixed the allocation of the state under NFSA to 2.12 lakh tonne of wheat against the current 2.36 lakh tonne.
The state government was told that the Centre would not reimburse food grain given to 16 lakh additional beneficiaries. If the state government wanted to give such a quantity of the food grain, then it has to
pay from its own pocket as Rs 300 crore was involved in supplying grain to these beneficiaries. The government spends Rs 100 every month on each beneficiary to give subsidised wheat, said sources.
