BHUBANESWAR: Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Krushna Chandra Patra on Saturday said around 25 lakh ghost ration cards have been detected till date and the exercise of identifying such fake PDS cards will be completed by the end of this month.
Stating that there are over 50 lakh such ghost ration cards in circulation, Patra told mediapersons that strict action will be taken against officials and PDS dealers responsible for it.
“After elimination of the false ration cards, measures will be taken to extend the food security benefit to eligible persons who have been deprived of the scheme due to political consideration of the previous BJD government,” he stated adding, process to distribute ration cards to the left out eligible families has begun and it will be completed in next two months.
Claiming at least 100 to 200 ghost ration cards are with each PDS dealer, the minister said, “This has been going on for the last 24 years as all the PDS dealers were appointed by the previous government.”
Meanwhile refuting Patra’s claims, the Odisha PDS dealers association said, “We do not belong to any political party. Appointment of PDS dealers were made in the most transparent manner and as per rules of the government. The minister is unnecessarily blaming us when distribution of ration is done through use of biometric and iris scanning.”