Govt yet to act against officials, pvt agency named in PDS scam

Former commissioners had caused Rs 6,912-cr loss to government

The state government is sitting on the 2011 Lokayukta report, recommending action against a private agency and five former commissioners of Food and Civil Supplies Department for committing irregularities in the public distribution system (PDS).

The report had stated that due to issuance of BPL and APL (below poverty line and above poverty line) cards to ineligible families, the state had incurred a loss of Rs 6,912 crore between 2006 and 2010.

The report, forwarded by the then Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde, had prompted the state government to cancel ineligible cards. The Lokayukta had taken up a suo motu enquiry based on news reports about ineligible BPL and APL cards. The Lokayukta appointed Dr R Balasubramaniam of Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement to investigate into the irregularities.

The Food and Civil Supplies Department had entered into a contract with Comat Technologies Pvt Ltd to identify beneficiaries and issue BPL cards. The Lokayukta had sent the report recommending action against officials and private firms responsible for the loss in keeping with section 12 (3) of the Lokayukta Act in 2011. When there was neither any action nor any action taken report, the then Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao sent a report to the Governor in 2013.

The enquiry report had stated that the PDS scheme was loaded with errors of exclusion of actual BPL families from the BPL status, inclusion of APL families into the BPL category, and ghost cards, whose owners could not be verified. During the enquiry period, it was found that the state government had more cards issued than the number of people in the state. The statistics showed that a total of 1.6 crore ration cards were distributed, while the total number of families in the state was just 1.2 crore.

Rs 144-cr monthly loss
The enquiry report estimated the monthly economic loss to the government at Rs 144 crore. It said that during the 2008-09 parliamentary elections, the government mandated that any family could be called BPL if they produced a self-declared affidavit that said they were poor.

“PDS was used as a political tool to gain votes and garner support. According to the government’s claim, there are 96 lakh BPL families in the state whereas the investigation found the number of genuine BPL families in Karnataka to be 44 lakh. Providing subsidised food grains for these additional families which were wrongly included in the BPL list, resulted in monthly over-allotment loss. Other losses were incurred as the over-allotted food grains are carried through the supply chain giving way to corruption at all levels burdening it with a monthly loss of Rs 144.8 crore,'' the report said.

Rs 23-cr PDS scam: RTI activist
An RTI activist has complained to the state government that irregularities to the tune of Rs 23 crore have been committed in the Food and Civil Supplies department in procuring dal and sugar under the public distribution system recently.

Bheemappa Gundappa Gadad has charged that the department has paid exorbitant rates for procuring dal and sugar in March and April this year.

He has complained to Chief Secretary Subash Chandra Khuntia in this regard with all documents obtained by him under RTI. The chief secretary has directed the department secretary to submit a report on the issue.