AIFPDA allege BPL families suffer due to lack of coordination

All India Fair Price Dealer Association today alleged that lack of coordination between Gujarat government's Civil Supplies Department and those implementing the Urban Community Development Scheme has resulted in many families being excluded from BPL estimates in the city.
AIFPDA vice-president Prahlad Modi today said while according to UCDS, there are 2.45 lakh BPL families in Ahmedabad, the Civil Supplies Department shows the figure at 1.47 lakh.
"Because of such discrepancies, resulting out of lack of coordination, BPL families are not getting their due benefits," Prahlad, who is the brother of chief minister Narendra Modi, said.
The state government had decided to provide barcoded bio-metric ration cards to people in 2010. "However, even in 2013, only 25 per cent of the work has been completed by the state government agencies," he said.

"The state government's civil supplies department has uploaded a software programme, which has removed the names of several Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) card holders," Prahlad said adding that families, who had applied for barcoded bio-metric ration cards with EPIC number mentioned in it, had been excluded.
"As a result of this, lakhs of families are not being given the required ration," he said.

He accused the state Civil Supplies Department of indulging in a "conspiracy" to eliminate the names of many families from the new barcoded bio-metric ration card list.
He has written a letter to Chief Minister, state civil supplies minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and the state chief secretary, who have invited him next week for discussion.

Meanwhile, the state government today clarified in a statement that the EPIC cards were being used to nullify duplicate and bogus ration cards.
"The intention of the state government is not to exclude poor people from getting subsidised ration, but to curb those having bogus ration cards. If any anomalies are found the state government would take corrective measures," the statement said.