Collector Thakur Ram Singh has appealed to the people, to come forward and cooperate in verification of their ration cards in the district.
The verification of ration cards issued under Chhattisgarh Food and Nutrition Security Act had been underway for some time now in the district, to identify ineligible persons who had been holding ration cards.
The cards which are not verified would be taken as ineligible and will be cancelled after the verification work is over.
Singh said that once the verification work is over, a criminal case will be registered against the concerned ineligible person. In a meeting held to review the ration card verification work, the Collector reviewed the ration card verification work of rural and urban areas.
The officers attending the meeting informed the Collector that verification of ration cards is done through door-to-door visit, the ration card number and writing will be placed on the wall of the eligible card holder. Verification teams have been directed for wall writing at the residence of the card holder after verification.
They said that a number of ineligible card holders have voluntarily submitted their cards. In case the ration card is not submitted before the verification team, the card will be treated as cancelled.
The ration card will be cancelled if the verification teams finds, the head of the family or member of the family is employed with the Central or State Government in the category except Class - 4 employees.
Similarly, a card will be cancelled if the head of the family or any member of the family is an Income Tax payee. In addition to this, the ration card will be cancelled if the card holder’s house is built on more than 1000 square feet of land.
The District Food Officer said that if the card holder’s house is constructed 600 square feet on ground floor and same area is constructed on first floor, the area will be considered as greater than 1000 square feet and he will become ineligible for holding the ration card.
In case the house is constructed on an area greater than 1000 square feet and the ration card is obtained on the basis of labour card, the ration card will be cancelled.
The card will be considered as invalid if the card holder fails to produce the original documents submitted for obtaining the ration card of specific category. The verification team will also check if the single member card holder is staying alone or with family.
If found living with family member, his name will be added with the card of the family and the single member card will be cancelled. Similarly, for Antodaya card, the head of the family is eligible to hold pink card if he is handicapped.
In case the pink card holder is not the head of the family and is found a dependent member of the family, his card will be cancelled and a green card will be issued.
If more than one cards are found in a house, the cards will be integrated in the senior most female member of the house.