In spite of State Government’s tall claims for making transparency in verification of ration cards, beneficiaries belonging to poor families are suffering because of irregularities maintained in the work in Bastar district. As per the categorisation of ration cards done by the Government, the green-colour ration card is issued to independent specially abled people belonging to Below Poverty line (BPl) families.
The beneficiaries of green-coloured ration card are entitled to 10 kilogram of rice free of cost. Owing to irregularities in the verification of ration cards, on papers only four green-coloured ration card holders exist in the district. Presently, as per categorisation, beneficiaries are provided blue, pink and brown coloured ration cards besides green colour ration card.
As per reports, in the district there are about 1.34 lakh blue ration card holders, 5.16 lakh pink ration card holders, 3,356 brown ration card holders and green ration cards have been issued to only four people.
According to sources, massive complaints about irregularities in verification of ration and issuance of ration cards have been received in rural and urban areas. It was learnt that employees and Panchayat representatives engaged with ration card verification work had not performed door-to-door survey leading to the irregularities in issuance of ration cards.