MYSURU: Gurumalayya from Kolathur village of T Narsipura died two years ago, but his family was shocked when they noticed that his ration share is being promptly claimed every month. The issue came to light when they went to delete his name. They pulled up the records of other family members who died besides many from the neighbourhood and to their surprise over two dozen such cases were found in the village itself.
“Similar thing happened with my uncle R Mahadevayya, brother-in-law Nanjayya and one Sannamma. For all these years, none of the family members were taking the allocated provision, but it was promptly being claimed every month,” said Ramesh. He said authorities were alerted about the matter in April itself but so far no action has been taken.“As soon as we learnt about the issue, we filed an RTI to know more about such cases. But since December, we have not got any reply,” he added.
They said complaints were lodged with food and civil supplies officials at Bengaluru as well as at its office in Mysuru and also with the DC’s office.“We lodged complaints in April. Officials told us that we have submitted enough proof to nab the culprits, but so far nothing has happened,” he said. The act has triggered suspicion of irregularities and black market in the supply of provision.
“It’s a clear case of irregularity and black market. Very often, we see officials proclaiming seizure of ration that is only the tip of an iceberg. Such instances should be targeted,” said social activist Mahesh Sosale. Officials at the food and civil supplies department were not available for comment.