JOIN USThe government has been flooded with applications for below poverty line (BPL) ration cards. So far, 18,40,756 applications have been received and 19,415 have been issued cards. This means, about one per cent of the total applications has been processed across the State. But, it is a meagre 0.3 percent in Bangalore.
Explaining the prevailing situation in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, S Suresh Kumar (BJP) wanted to know as to when the new ration cards would be distributed. And, whether the July 31 deadline for receiving the applications by the photo biometric centres would be extended.
Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies Dinesh Gundu Rao admitted that it is not an easy task to process the applications as there has been a big rush after the introduction of the Anna Bhagya scheme. “We need to be careful to avoid issuing bogus cards. We are planning to issue 20 to 40 cards a day at booth level. And, also follow the scrutiny of the cards as being done by the Election Commission which regularly checks the voters’ list. In all, we intend to complete the process of issuing cards in three to four months,” he said.
Special squads
Gundu Rao said the deadline of July 31 is only for those who have taken temporary cards to visit the photo-biometric centres to submit their photos and data. Majority of these card holders seems to have no documents to support their claims and, naturally these cards would be scrapped. However, there is no deadline to submit applications for those who have not taken the temporary cards, he said. Suresh Kumar said that although Rs 50 has been fixed as the processing fee for an application, additional amount is being collected. Rao said special squads would be set up to check the fleecing of applicants.