The State Government has so far initiated actions against 251 families which obtained ration cards under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) fraudulently.
Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Sanjay Dasburma said this in the Assembly on Saturday in response to a question of Congress MlA Tara Prasad Bahinipati.
He said a total of 88,178 families have voluntarily returned ration cards taken by them producing false information. However, he said that the Government has no information if any of the undeserving cardholders belonged to the ruling party.
In a response to a related question of BJP MlA Dilip Ray, the Minister said a total of 3,16,67,410 persons belonging to 84,40,545 families have been included in the NFSA against the target of 326.418 lakh people. Only economically week families, based on Government guidelines, are being given NFSA cards, he said.
The Government has urged the oil companies to open non-PDS kerosene outlet in all districts and provide kerosene the families who have been deprived of getting kerosene after implementation of the NFSA , Dasburma said in response to a question of BJD MlA Ranendra Pratap Swain.