FGG urges govt. to weed out ‘bogus’ ration cards to save ₹600 crore per month

Forum for Good Governance urges Telangana government to eliminate 'bogus' ration cards before issuing new smart cards to eligible families.

Forum for Good Governance has urged the State government, specifically Civil Supplies and Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, to first weed out the ‘bogus’ ration cards in the possession of ineligible persons before issuing the new proposed smart cards, on Thursday.

In a communication to the Minister, a copy of which was released to the media, Forum president M. Padmanabha Reddy has claimed that every month ₹600 crore of tax payers’ money is being squandered on account of such ‘bogus’ cards. Welcoming the Minister’s proposal to initiate discussions with stakeholders to decide on the modalities for issuance of new ration cards, he pointed out that there were about 90 lakh ration cards for a population of 2.84 crores people when the Telangana population is close to four crores.

The NITI-Ayog report states that 3.74% of the population are multi-dimensional poor and various other survey reports show 20% are Below Poverty Line (BPL), which means this section requires food security through the Public Distribution System (PDS), said Mr. Reddy.

Once the BPL criteria is applied, only 80 lakh people will be eligible for the free rice through PDS as against 2.84 crores in Telangana. Therefore, as many as two crores ineligible people are in possession of ration cards drawing six kg of rice free or 12 crore kilos in total, amounting to ₹600 crore leakage per month. Such ‘bogus’ cards need to be eliminated by an intensive house-to-house survey, said the FGG.

The agency has charged that the previous BRS government had issued large-scale ration cards covering 75% of the population. The Congress government should stop this “unethical” practice and restrict the issue of ration cards to the eligible BPL families only. These eligible families should be given one kilo of cooking oil and one kilo of pulses in addition to the free rice to improve their livelihoods, insisted Mr. Reddy.

The FGG has claimed that most of the “ineligible” PDS beneficiaries dispose of the rice to brokers who supply it to the poultry industry and sometimes the rice is re-polished to be sold at the roadside eateries for preparing idlis and the likes. Mr. Reddy also said the plan to supply fine rice through PDS from January 2025 is most welcome, added the release.