Five persons from lakhanpur block and one from Belpahar in Jharsuguda district have been arrested out of the 13 who have been booked by the Civil Supplies Department for possession of fake ration cards.
After these arrests, many consumers of Belpahar and lakhanpur blocks are coming forward to deposit their ration cards for not being eligible under the National Food Safety Act.
In the last few weeks, 185 ration cards have been surrendered to the department by ineligible consumers of the district. In Belpahar, a penalty amount of Rs3,64,200 and in lakhanpur a penalty of Rs2,80,000 have been collected till date.
Belpahar Civil Supplies Officer Raj Kishore Jena said that in case the ration cards issued to the consumers illegally are not surrendered within a week’s time, suitable action against such consumers would be taken as per the National Food Safety Act.