Delhi government finds corruption in ration delivery

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday said that the government has found "open corruption" in the delivery of ration in the city.

Sisodia also urged Lt. Governor Anil Baijal to sack the Food and Supplies Department Commissioner and immediately stop the current delivery system and approve a scheme for doorstep delivery of rations.

Food and Supplies Department Minister Imran Hussain also wrote a letter to the Lt. Governor on Friday making the two demands.

Ration delivery in the city is being done through EPos (electronic point of sale) from January 1.

But due to Internet connectivity issues at shops, a new system was introduced on March 1, under which if EPos machines were not working, the beneficiaries would get ration after they received an OTP (one time password) on their registered mobile number.

Addressing the media here on Friday, Sisodia said that they had found cases where ration for 499 houses was given to one mobile number via OTP.

Citing other instances he said: "Ration for 202 houses was given to one number, ration for 172 houses were given to one number...

"Like this, ration to about 1,550 houses were given to just 11 numbers," he said.

"This is open theft of ration and this explains why they did not want to take back the EPos system," Sisodia said.

Sisodia said they had earlier written to Baijal about corruption in ration delivery, but he turned it down, stating that the delivery was working well according to officials.

--IANS

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