Assam cancels 2.66 lakh bogus ration cards

Assam government has cancelled over 2.66 lakh bogus ration cards across the state and added more than 2.42 lakh people in the list of genuine beneficiaries, the Assembly was informed today.

Food and Civil Supplies Minister Rihon Daimary said over 2.66 lakh cards issued under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) to eliminate ghost beneficiaries.

In place of the deleted names, over 2.42 lakh genuine beneficiaries have been added after verification and scrutiny, Daimary said.

He admitted that some lapses in the selection of beneficiaries have been detected and action has been taken to rectify them on regular intervals.

The minister said people from higher income groups, whose names do not feature in the list of beneficiaries, have been requested to surrender their ration cards.

Officials are also tasked to undertake scrutiny of the lists from time to time to ensure that they are free of any error, he added.

Earlier, BJP MLA Narayan Deka said names of many poor and BPL families have not been included in the list of beneficiaries under the NFSA, while many affluent people have managed to add their own names.

The NFSA was implemented in state in December 2015 and a total of 2.5 crore beneficiaries have been selected based on the Census 2011 data. The Act covers over 84 per cent of the population in rural areas and over 60 per cent in urban areas.