JOIN USChief Minister Siddaramaiah goes on the defensive whenever questions are raised about the Anna Bhagya scheme.
But the fact remains that his government has distributed rice at Re 1 kg and other highly subsidised groceries to 8.9 lakh ineligible BPL and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) card holders in the last two years.
When the scheme was launched, a kg of rice was sold for Re 1 to BPL families, while it was free for AAY card holders. Now, four kg of free rice is given to each person holding the BPL card.
In a written reply to Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli of BJP in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies Dinesh Gundu Rao said that in the last two years, 8,89,907 ineligible BPL and APL cards were identified and cancelled.
A total of 1,00,917 BPL cards and 71,637 APL cards bogus cards have been scrapped in Bengaluru urban district. The least number of such cards were cancelled in Chamarajanagar district - 6,267. The government has also identified 10,29,924 APL cards as ineligible for the highly subsidised rations.
The minister said up to June 15, as many as 9,79,796 AAY, 1,00,25,883 BPL and 11,77,216 APL cards have been distributed. The department has begun accepting applications online for new ration cards from May 1.
As many as 8,78,659 applications have been received, he added. Replying to a question by Umesh Katti (BJP), the minister said licences of 220 fair price depots have been suspended for illegal business.
In 2013-14, the scheme was launched, Rs 3,046.04 crore was spent, he said.