Commissioner orders inquiry over Mayor's name in subsidised

The Cuttack Municipal Corporation Commissioner has ordered an inquiry to ascertain as to how the CMC Mayor's name figured among the beneficiaries identified to get subsidised food grain.
The civic body Commissioner Gyana Ranjan Das has ordered an administrative inquiry to ascertain as to how Mayor and BJD leader Anita Behera's name was listed to get subsidised rice and wheat, even as Behera said she did not apply for the same and her name has been included "inadvertently."
"I did not apply for the ration card and I do not know how my name figured in the beneficiary list," said Behera adding she was extremely shocked over the glitch and already written to the authorities concerned to delete her name from the list.

"Besides the Mayor, names of other elected representatives have also been included in the beneficiary list," said the Commissioner asserting that sincere efforts were now being made rectify the faults and include genuine beneficiaries in the list.
Corporators cutting across party lines, however, have criticised the manner in which the beneficiaries were identified in the city.
The opposition corporators have been agitating over the matter since last month alleging genuine beneficiaries have been left out from the list but well-heeled BJD leaders and their sympathisers have been included to get the ration cards in Cuttack city.

The city has a population of nearly six lakh and as per the norms for the district, about 70 per cent of it were supposed to get the ration cards.

But, only 1.30 lakh people had applied for it and the government has now identified only 65,000 people, of which, many were allegedly BJD leaders, party workers and sympathisers.
Peoples' representatives, government servants and pensioners, owners of four-wheeler vehicles or those owning more than two three-wheelers, income tax assesses, people with more than 2KW electricity supply line to their houses or with a consumption of more than 300 units per month were advised not to apply for the ration cards.