4.9 lakh BPL cards cancelled as government removes ineligible beneficiaries in Karnataka

Bengaluru: As many as two lakh Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards have been cancelled in the past few weeks as the state government continues its drive to weed out ineligible beneficiaries.

The cancellation of two lakh cards has resulted in 4.9 lakh beneficiaries being removed from the BPL list. During the Monsoon Session of the state legislature, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies K H Muniyappa outlined the government’s plans to not only remove ineligible beneficiaries but also to distribute cards to deserving beneficiaries.

Beneficiaries who have lost their BPL cards have now been designated as belonging to the Above Poverty Line (APL) category. “According to information on the Kutumba portal, there are 13.87 lakh ineligible BPL card holders, and we will cancel them in a phased manner,” said a senior official in the Food and Civil Supplies Department.

Official documents such as PAN, Aadhaar cards, etc., that citizens submitted for procurement of loans or while paying income tax had helped the department identify ineligible card holders, the official added.

Reiterating the government’s claim that eligible beneficiaries would not be impacted by the drive, another official said, “If the BPL card of an eligible beneficiary is cancelled, he or she can apply for the card again within 45 days of the cancellation. The application, along with all necessary documents, must be submitted to the respective tahsildar.”  

Meanwhile, the Food and Civil Supplies Department has decided to penalise ineligible card holders who sought deletion of their names from the BPL list, but did so belatedly. “Despite knowing they did not meet the criteria for BPL, they kept enjoying the benefits. So, we have decided to penalise such beneficiaries,” an official said.

Red flags

6,16,196 beneficiaries have not completed KYC

5,13,613 have an annual income above Rs 1.2 lakh

57,864 have ration cards issued by other states

33,456 have more than 7.5 acres of agricultural land

19,690 have not purchased ration for the past six months

19,690 have comfortable jobs  

2,684 have been involved in transactions worth more than Rs 25 lakh

1,446 beneficiaries are not alive