More skeletons tumble from ration card closet

A day after Cuttack city Mayor Anita Behera resigned, the Municipal Corporation (CMC) Commissioner has sought cancellation of ration cards of 45 beneficiaries linked to ruling BJD who allegedly wrongly benefited from the subsidised foodgrains scheme.
Six of these beneficiaries are present BJD corporators and two are former corporators of ruling BJD.
"Irrespective of the fact whether or not they are people's representative, these 45 beneficiaries are found to be coming under the 'nine exclusion' criteria," said CMC Commissioner Gyana Ranjan Das.
Das said he has written to the District Collector with a separate list of present and former corporators for cancellation of their ration cards seeking appropriate action against them in accordance with law.

Meanwhile, the civic body has asked special squads to scrutinise the ration cards thoroughly and report the aberrations immediately.
The action of the CMC comes in the wake of yesterday's resignation of city Mayor Anita Behera, who was forced to put in her papers after it was found that she had managed to obtain a ration card in her favour to receive monthly subsidised food grains under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

Bowing to widespread protests and condemnation of Behera's conduct, the discomfited ruling party sacrificed her at the altar.
Soon after the Mayor's resignation, heads started rolling in the civic body as the state government swung into action making it a prestige issue.

After suspending two mid-rung employees yesterday, the state government today placed under suspension the civic body's former additional commissioner Biswanath Sahu, who was now working as project director (PD) of Sonepur DRDA, officials said.