Gas consumers get relief

Last date to submit a copy of ration card and RR number extended

The Department of Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs had last week asked ration card holders coming under the above poverty line (APL) category, to submit a copy of the ration card and the RR number of the electricity meters of their homes to their LPG distributors within 10 days from January 19.

Addressing media here on Monday, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Shobha Karandlaje defended the decision stating that it was a measure to eliminate the bogus ration cards and irregularities in supply of gas cylinders. She said a sum of Rs 150 crore was being spent on supplying groceries under the public distribution system (PDS) which has been misused by many fake card holders.

Those who do not possess ration cards, may furnish the RR number and the LPG consumer number to their gas suppliers, the minister said.

The State has been making efforts to identify fake cards so that only eligible families get the ration supplied under the public distribution system.

Karandlaje said the eligible families under the PDS were 1.25 crore. But, there were 20 lakh families entitled for the scheme but do not possess the cards. “We have to identify those with 35 to 40 lakh bogus cards,” she added. Haliyal village of Dharwad taluk has only 150 houses, but 270 ration cards. She warned that stringent action would be taken against officials involved in such irregularities.

In panchayat areas, the government has already launched a drive to identify the families which have fake ration cards under the below poverty line category.  In these areas, the proof of identify of families to be submitted is the house tax assessment number.

In urban areas, there are over 55 lakh APL card holders, though according to government estimates, the number of such families is not more than 32 lakh.

Unauthorised IP sets

Karandlaje said all the unauthorised irrigation pumpsets (IP sets) in the State would be regularised in the next three to four months. There are around 1.5 lakh unauthorised IP sets.

The minister said that under the Akrama-Sakrama scheme, a farmer has to pay a penalty of Rs 10,000 to get an unauthorised IP set regularised. A decision will be taken soon on the quantum of penalty to be levied in future, she said.

The demand for power has touched 162 million units (MU) a day from 150 MU, the minister said. A subsidy of Rs 5,000 crore due to KPCL, KPTCL and electricity supply companies would be released once the Energy Department got the grant.