BENGALURU: The government has traced three lakh illegal ration cards, the food and civil supplies department revealed in data submitted in the legislative council on Monday.
In a reply to an unstarred question, the department said these cards were issued either as antyodaya or BPL cards and were either cancelled or converted to APL cards on further verification.
The council also witnessed a discussion on technical glitches faced while authenticating biometrics of beneficiaries. S Ravi, MLCraised concerns over issues faced by senior citizens while accessing ration in fair price shops due to poor internet connectivity and incorrect capture of fingerprints.
“The skin on the fingers of many senior citizens has worn out and biometric fingerprint capturing is not happening properly. They are being denied ration because of this. Why can’t the government simplify the entire process?” Ravi asked.
Floor leader City of Srinivas Poojary said the government is aware of the issue and, it has taken some steps to resolve it. He said to overcome glitches, biometric verification has been waived for 2% of beneficiaries to ensure supply of rations is not hindered.
Ravi said the government must allow manual verification for all who face glitches with biometric verification and ensure they get rations.
Replying to another query, Poojary said 394 cases were filed for sale of food grains in the black market. He said the government recovered food grains, which were sold for an estimated Rs 14. 2 crore. “Officials in-charge of godowns in Bengaluru and Kalaburagi were found to be involved in irregularities. Cases were booked under relevant sections of the Essential Commodities Act1955, ” Pooj ary said.
In a reply to an unstarred question, the department said these cards were issued either as antyodaya or BPL cards and were either cancelled or converted to APL cards on further verification.
The council also witnessed a discussion on technical glitches faced while authenticating biometrics of beneficiaries. S Ravi, MLCraised concerns over issues faced by senior citizens while accessing ration in fair price shops due to poor internet connectivity and incorrect capture of fingerprints.
“The skin on the fingers of many senior citizens has worn out and biometric fingerprint capturing is not happening properly. They are being denied ration because of this. Why can’t the government simplify the entire process?” Ravi asked.
Floor leader City of Srinivas Poojary said the government is aware of the issue and, it has taken some steps to resolve it. He said to overcome glitches, biometric verification has been waived for 2% of beneficiaries to ensure supply of rations is not hindered.
Ravi said the government must allow manual verification for all who face glitches with biometric verification and ensure they get rations.
Replying to another query, Poojary said 394 cases were filed for sale of food grains in the black market. He said the government recovered food grains, which were sold for an estimated Rs 14. 2 crore. “Officials in-charge of godowns in Bengaluru and Kalaburagi were found to be involved in irregularities. Cases were booked under relevant sections of the Essential Commodities Act1955, ” Pooj ary said.