Bengaluru: Food and Civil Service Minister U T Khader said that around 8.5 lakh bogus ration cards were found across the state after the implementation of the biometric system and linking of ration card to the Aaadhar number.
Earlier, beneficiaries often cheated the system by availing ration on cards in their name as well as cards procured in other’s name, thereby causing loss to the food and civil supply department. Hence to overcome this, a decision was taken to link Aadhar to the ration card. In almost all the districts, the Aadhar link has been a success and bogus cards have been canceled, he said.
Across the state, 17 lakh people have applied online for the new ration card. Already, 13.5 lakh cards have been provided to the beneficiaries door-steps through post. For other applications, where the address didn’t match with the Aadhar address, they were sent to the beneficiaries with the help of the respective district deputy directors, through the panchayats.
“People who do not qualify but hold BPL cards will be punished under the law. The informers of bogus cards will get Rs.400 per card under the scheme,” Khader said.
2.75 Cr fake ration cards in the country:
The Union government has completed the digitalization of ration cards and Aadhar link process has been completed up to 81.75 %. The government has found that 2.75 crore fake ration cards are in use. It used to cause around Rs.17,500 core loss to the government. Among the states which have the most number of fake ration cards, Karnataka is in the third position after UP and West Bengal.
