Ration cards: Andhra Pradesh Minister admits to ‘mistakes’

HYDERABAD: Obtaining white ration cards issued to members of below poverty line families in bogus and fictitious names is a common feature.

But, dealers and middlemen in Andhra Pradesh have gone a step ahead. In spite of the mandatory use of IRIS technology for issuance of ration cards, dealers and middlemen managed to get ration cards affixing photographs of hillocks, trains and trees!

Civil Supplies Minister J. Krishna Rao on Sunday attributed this to ‘mistakes’ that had crept into the issuance of cards at the mandal level, where, in some cases cards were given in the name of the dead and affluent persons, including those owning Mercedes Benz cars!
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Speaking to reporters after attending a meeting convened by Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy to review prices of essential commodities, he said teams constituted by the government would visit villages from July first week. They were not just meant for weeding out bogus cards, but also identifying the genuine poor who had been left out from the list of beneficiaries of ration cards.

Mr. Rao clarified that the government had to reduce the red gram quota to card-holders from one kg to half-a-kg due to shortage of the commodity in the market. Though it floated global tenders and sought Central agencies’ help for obtaining the requisite stocks, it could not mobilise adequate quantity to meet the requirement.