To grab the Government-sponsored benefits of subsidised food grains under Food Security Act, as many as 15, 32,737 persons from the district have applied for ration cards from the Civil Supply department. But the surprising fact is the number of applicants exceeds the population of the district.
If official sources are to be believed, while the district has a population of 14, 40,361, but the applicants reached to get the ration card under NFSA is 15, 32,737. It means the applicants are more than the population of the district.
According to official sources, the scheme envisages uniform entitlement of 5 kg of subsidized food grains per person per month for priority households. Existing AAY households will get 35 kg of rice per household per month as before. Those persons having vehicles including two wheelers, business with TIN (tax payer identification number), households with electricity consumption of above 300 units per month, State or Central Government employees, persons having power tillers, fishing boats or other heavy vehicles and professional tax payees cannot apply to get benefit under the scheme. But if reliable sources are to be believed, several ineligible persons including employees, pension holders and affluent persons have filed application to register themselves under the NFSA.
Meanwhile, the Civil Supply Department has started cross checking the applications through local sources. Block level committees have been formed in six blocks to verify the registered applications with the help of Anganwadi workers, extension officers, teachers and tax collectors for identifying the ineligible applicants. The Civil Supply officials are also taking the help of RTO to ascertain the ineligible applicants.
Meanwhile, it has been asked to the ineligible ones to withdraw their application voluntarily by 3rd week of August, else as per the law necessary action would be initiated, informed Civil Supply Officer (CSO) of Kendrapada Ram Chandra Sahu.
Till date, as many as 318 applicants, who were not eligible to get subsidized food grains under Food Security Act, have voluntarily withdrawn their applications, stated Sahu.