Fair price shop dealers lend money on the ‘security’ of cards in Tumkur

The Food and Civil Supplies Department has intensified its drive against bogus ration cards in the district by cancelling as many as 1,00,756  bogus cards so far.

The ration cards are being tallied with revenue register number of electrical installations and such cards the details of which do not tally have been cancelled.

However, those who want to obtain new cards can submit applications online or through Gram Panchayats, P Sambaiah, Deputy Director of Food and Civil Supplies Department, told Deccan Herald.

The ration cards were earlier issued through Nemmadi centres. Cards were issued to all those who submitted an affidavit on a stamp paper and this has led to huge number of bogus cards in the district, it is said.

More number of bogus cards has been detected in urban areas. As many as 43,839 bogus cards have been found in Tumkur city while 31,651 cards have been detected in rural areas. Antyodaya and non-LPG BPL card holders number more in the list of cancelled bogus ration cards. On the other hand, difficulty in furnishing RR numbers is said to have deprived ration cards to several eligible beneficiaries. Joint families or a cluster of houses which share a common electrical meter have not been able to furnish the information. In some other cases, though families have partitioned, they have not applied for separate khata for the electrical connection. 

The role of fair price shop dealers too cannot be ruled out behind huge number of ration cards. According to sources, the dealers managed to secure ration cards in the name of the persons of their choice, corner the food grains meant for them and sold them in blackmarket. The arrangement has come in handy for the poor and alcoholics since it provides easy access to money. A fair price shop dealer in Gubbi taluk, who wished to be unnamed said it is profitable to lend money on the security of BPL cards.

Another ‘business’ that has flourished of late is ‘pledging’ of ration cards with fair price shop dealers. It is said the dealers lend up to Rs 500 on the ‘security’ of a ration card. They blackmarket the food grains meant for such card holders. There have also been instances of a household possessing more than two cards.

The initiative to submit applications for ration cards online has become a non-starter. While the State government launched the programme with much fanfare, the Gram Panchayats have not been provided with internet connectivity till now.  As many as 82,211 applications have been filed for ration cards in the GPs across the district of which only 48,943 have been fed into the portal concerned. 

As many as 111 GPs out of the total 324 in the district are yet to get internet facility.  An official with the Food and Civil Supplies Department said the Zilla Panchayat had been urged to provide the facility to the remaining GPs.

List of bogus ration cards

* Chikkanayakanahalli-5648
* Gubbi-9835
* Koratagere-2694
* Kunigal-2964
* Madhugiri-8183
* Pavagad-20558,
* Sira-4995,
* Tiptur-8397,
* Tumkur-38158.
* Turuvekere-2606