After ration cards were issued to the priority households to avail subsidized food grains under the TPDS and Antodaya Anna Yojana with the implementation of the National Food Security Act, a confusion has arisen as to whether the old BPl card is of any use.
But as per the RTI compliance report of the Panchayati Raj Department, Government of Odisha, the BPl card is still relevant and can be used to avail a host of benefits as usual.
According to RTI activist Pradip Pradhan who had sought information on status of BPl in Odisha and number of BPl people in the State, after it was found that the Government officials were asking people to return the BPl card as the new ration cards were given, the Government said that the 1997 BPl survey identifying as BPl family still stands today.
According to the Government, as of now, the number of BPl families in Odisha is 44,93,410, with their percentage to the State population is 66.23. The BPl card issued as per 1997 survey is still relevant to get all types of benefit free of cost or subsidised rate, while Boudh has highest BPl families with concentration of 80.20 per cent followed by Deogarh ( 78.79 per cent) and Phulbani ( 78.42 per cent).